You’ll recall that way back when in November, ICONLOOP launched its “ICON Development Network” on the Amazon Web Services Marketplace. The team noted at the time that ICONLOOP had been a technology partner in the AWS Partner Network since early 2018.

Well, the ICONLOOP team recently announced it had achieved an upgrade in its partnership status with AWS. ICONLOOP is now an Advanced Technology Partner, the highest of three performance tiers APN Technology Partners can achieve. Partners achieve these positions based on product status, customer engagements, and overall business investment on AWS.

So clearly, ICONLOOP is doing something right. As they put it, “ICONLOOP has achieved Advanced status in recognition of its high performance in establishing a blockchain network, providing stable services, and suggesting new ways to adopt blockchain technology across different industries.”

Being an Advanced Partner comes with its perks. In particular, ICONLOOP is now eligible for the AWS Competency Program, which would give it preferred access to business opportunities. It’s also eligible for customer-facing webinars and an AWS-written case study.

This might not sound like much, but it does reinforce ICON’s image as a blockchain company that actually makes things. Only a handful of blockchain companies on the planet have achieved Advanced Technology Partner status. Accordingly, this is the kind of development that could pay off big if blockchain experiences mass adoption, especially with ICONLOOP’s mix of government and corporate clients and partners.

Also in the ICON Republic

CryptoNewsZ looks at ICON’s strategy to get its public blockchain network going.

In Captain Altcoin, Philipp Traugott argues, essentially, that ICX should do well if the project keeps to its roadmap, though the usual caveat – that altcoin performance is often determined by Bitcoin’s – still applies.

On the Aion Network’s Medium blog, developer Michael O’Rourke argues that the industry’s goal should be “to enable any developer to easily leverage the blockchain as another tool in their toolbox.”