Integra grew out of a project to solve complex security problems that arise when organizations collaborate on documents and contracts.

If everyone used the same software, the same cloud, and the same database, then everything would be easy. But that’s not the way things work. Translating data from one system to another, you introduce the potential for human error, security vulnerabilities, and expense. Making matters worse, every organization of any size has thousands of commercial relationships, almost none of which use the same exact technology stack.

Data complexity becomes an efficiency problem, which becomes a security problem, which becomes an expensive problem. In a sense, the world has become one giant security problem.

At the heart of the matter is data trust, or lack thereof. Enterprises rely on extensive security audits because trust is vested in the software rather than the data itself. Further, the only way for enterprises to transfer data while maintaining that trust is to find ways to connect their software. This has given rise to many intermediaries, such as cloud-based applications to keep things connected.

But what if, rather than relying on software, we could trust the data itself?

This is what Integra has done – we have created an ecosystem for data trust. It’s a collection of rather simple ideas that, together, can change everything.

First, data of any type should have an identity - unique number, to record it’s the existence and uniqueness. We call this “Integra ID”. It’s a bit like a serial number on a dollar bill or a CUSIP number on a stock certificate.

Second, we generate a digital fingerprint - “hash”, that is then associated with Integra ID. Any change to the original document results in a completely different hash.

Third, we record the ID and the corresponding HASH with a time and date stamp on the Integra blockchain- this is our proof of existence.

Fourth, that “proof of existence” is copied to many synchronized nodes of the Integra Ledger blockchain, hosted globally by large enterprises. Even if one were to be compromised, the multiple redundant versions of the original would confirm the truth.

This arrangement enables something extraordinary - the existence and uniqueness of private data can be authenticated by the Integra Ledger blockchain. The consequence of this is that authenticated data can move between software and enterprises, with the ability to prove its authenticity and provenance.

Trust the data, rather than the software.

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