LONDON: IBM has taken the top slot -- beating Microsoft and Accenture -- when it comes to deploying Blockchaintechnology across industries, a new study has said.

The "Blockchain Enterprise Survey" by market research firm Juniper Research that included 400 company founders, executives, managers and IT leaders, ranked Microsoft and Accenture after IBM.

"Even if companies conduct initial testing using a public blockchain, in most cases the shortcomings of these chains should disqualify them from many use cases, including financial settlement, public sector deployments, logistics and land registry," said research author Windsor Holden late on Monday.

Among enterprises either actively considering, or in the process of deploying blockchain technology, more than four in 10 (43 per cent) ranked IBM first -- more than twice the proportion selecting second-placed Microsoft (20 per cent).

According to the study, this reflected IBM's high-profile R&D engagement with initiatives such as Hyperledger and its extensive list of blockchain clients across an array of key verticals and use cases, including banking, asset tracking and the music industry.

Among respondents, more than two-thirds (67 per cent) stated they had already invested more than $100,000 in Blockchain technology by the end of 2016 while 91 per cent of these companies confirmed that they would be spending at least this amount in 2017.

However, the report urged companies to focus on private blockchains for commercial deployments, rather than utilise public chains such as Bitcoin.

IBM Blockchain provides fundamental support to transform a number of industry business practices, from banking and government to healthcare and logistics.

Touted as a key technological innovation of the digital cyptocurrency Bitcoin, Blockchain technology is disrupting traditional processes across industries -- from financial transactions to marine insurance and more.

For a layman, a blockchain can serve as "an open, distributed ledger that can efficiently record transactions between two parties".

For use as a "distributed ledger", a blockchain is typically operated by a peer-to-peer network which allows users to manage the ledger in a secure way and without the help of a third party.

Discover more news on ETCIO here: http://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/business-analytics/ibm-outranks-microsoft-as-top-blockc...

How IBM can help

As one of the world’s leading research organizations,
and one of the world’s top contributors to open
source projects, IBM is committed to fostering the
collaborative effort required to transform how people,
governments and businesses transact and interact.
IBM provides clients the consulting and systems
integration capabilities to design and rapidly adopt
distributed ledgers, digital identity and blockchain
solutions. IBM helps clients leverage the global scale,
business domain expertise, and deep cloud integration
experience required for the application of these
technologies. Learn more at ibm.com/blockchain


Rapidly breaking through
barriers

A breakout group of Trailblazer banks is leading adoption
of blockchain solutions. Defying expectations, larger
banks are leading the charge. Trailblazer banks have
identified the business areas of reference data, retail
payments, and consumer lending where blockchains
can help realize the greatest benefits related to time,
cost and risk. Blockchains can help these early adopters
open new business models for trade finance, corporate
lending and reference data. Despite this, Trailblazers are
investing in areas where they anticipate disruption – and
the greatest benefit.

Executive summary

Banking organizations across the globe are investing resources in exploring how blockchains
can impact their businesses. The IBM Institute for Business Value with the support of the
Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed 200 banks in 16 countries on their experiences and
expectations with blockchains. This executive report outlines what differentiates the early
adopters and what we can learn from them.
Just a handful of banks are operating on blockchains today. In 2017, 15 percent of the banks in
our study expect to have blockchains in commercial production. These Trailblazers are
prioritizing blockchain efforts to break through barriers to creating new business models and
reaching new markets.


Trailblazers are prioritizing blockchains to benefit time, cost and risk in three areas: reference
data, retail payments and consumer lending. They also expect blockchains to yield the greatest
effect in opening up new business models in three areas: trade finance, corporate lending and
reference data.
Trailblazers see a significant wall of disruption heading their way in core business areas.

They
expect five out of nine core business areas to experience significant disruption and are investing
in each.
Across the industry, banks are investing in international payments, other cash management,
corporate lending, consumer lending, mortgages and deposit taking. These findings reveal that
blockchain adoption is accelerating faster than originally anticipated, with organizations
identifying key areas and benefits in which to explore solutions.


First movers


Trailblazers set a fast pace and new direction
When the first international payments on a blockchain crossed the wires, the transaction was
completed in a matter of seconds instead of hours.1 Speed of execution, of course, is one
benefit derived from blockchains, but speed is also proving the operative word when it comes
to blockchain commercialization. Our survey of commercial and retail banks reveals that the
industry is hurtling toward blockchain adoption far faster than many expected.
Commercial applications in banking are few in number today. In 2017, a full 15 percent of the
banks in our study expect to have commercial blockchain solutions at scale (see Figure 1).


We call this group the Trailblazers. In effect, 2017 looks to be the year banking on blockchains
shifts from zero to sixty. First-mover advantages for this group include the ability to influence
and set the business standards by which others will operate. Moreover, as start-ups take aim
at incumbents and new business models expand beyond industry boundaries, first-mover
banks will be well situated to get ahead of the consequent disruption....

To download the full 20 page IBM pdf report for free, click here: 
https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?htmlfid=GBP03467USEN

Don't forget to also follow IBM Page right here on Blockchain Company. To follow IBM now click here: http://www.blockchaincompany.info/ibm

IBM, Microsoft, USAA, and Visa are all searching for blockchain developers as of this week. These job openings signal the increasing importance of the technology and showcase some of the roles and projects that will be changing our society in the near future.

BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPERS WANTED

Good news for programmers well-versed in the ways of the blockchain: IBM, Microsoft, USAA, and Visa are all searching for blockchain developers to join their teams right now, according to ads listed on their respective websites.

According to IBM’s job listing, the company is seeking out “Consultant Developers” with experience on one or more blockchain platform, citing Ethereum, Hyperledger, and Ripple specifically, but also indicating that “equivalent proprietary platform experience” might also be considered. They are not particular about whether the developer has UX, backend, or full-stack experience.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is looking for a “Principal Program Manager.” This person will “develop a deep understanding of how customers use distributed ledger technologies as well as compute, storage, database, and networking services in Azure to architect their applications.

” USAA is hoping to find a “ Lead Blockchain Developer.” As for their “preferred qualifications,” the financial services company is hoping to find someone with at least two years experience with blockchain, cryptocurrencies, decentralized autonomous organizations, digital registries, distributed ledger, or smart contracts.

Their ideal candidate will also have a conceptual knowledge of the mathematical foundations of blockchain technology.Visa is searching for “a strong developer experienced with Ethereum and blockchain architecture.”

As for specifics, they want someone who “has built and released distributed applications, has worked with the Ripple, R3, Ethereum, and/or Bitcoin blockchain, and has experience with Solidity.” Visa also notes that their candidate will need to “maintain [the company’s] relationship with the [IBM] Hyperledger initiative.”

TRANSFORMING SOCIETY

The interest in developers with blockchain experience is just one more sign that the technology is poised to radically transform our world. Notably, both USAA and Visa are looking for developers with Ethereum experience — no surprise given the strong presence the blockchain now has among financial companies, many of which are using Ethereum as the basis for their blockchain technologies.

IBM and Microsoft are already well on their way to integrating the blockchain into their business models. PC Mag reports that both have custom blockchains for their own blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platforms (Bluemix for IBM and Azure for Microsoft) using their cloud infrastructure. These platforms allow the companies to experiment with use cases for customers and for their own purposes.

At the heart of IBM’s short-term goals is blockchain identity management — a real-world, ultra-secure applied use of the technology to guard identity and associated financial and other sensitive information online — so if you’re thinking about applying there, chances are excellent you’ll be working on something related to that.

Whether they land at IBM or one of the several other companies looking to delve deeper into blockchain, the developers who fill these open positions will be the people ushering  in an entirely new era in technology.... continue reading: https://futurism.com/visa-microsoft-and-ibm-are-all-hiring-blockchain-developers/

On August 9, IBM announced the firm's cooperation with Sony Global Education - a subsidiary of Sony, providing global educational services - with the objective to develop a learning platform for students implementing blockchain technology. 

According to IBM, the blockchain-based educational platform would allow school administrators to manage and consolidate the educational data of students at multiple schools in addition to recording and referring their "learning history and digital academic transcripts with more certainty." The platform will use the IBM Blockchain, which is based on the IBM Cloud, to establish "transparency and accountability of scholastic achievements between students and schools," allowing both professors and students to track the latter's learning progress.

The tech giant pointed out that it is often difficult for employers to verify student records of potential hires. According to IBM, there are multiple reasons for this issue, including students taking online courses and attending universities abroad. Such "non-traditional methods" can create confusion for the employers; however, IBM believes implementing blockchain technology will resolve the issue.

The learning platform will give both the teachers and the students a digital, trusted record showing their accomplishments, which can be - thanks to the nature of blockchain technology - easily verified by future employers or educational institutions... learn more about this: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/sony-and-ibm-join-forces-to-put-student-achievement-on-the-blockchain-...