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Channel in the US invests in Blockchain IoT consulting in projects for finance and manufacturing

With more vendors making broad use of blockchain the channel is forced to upgrade to stay competitive
Channel in the US invests in Blockchain IoT consulting in projects for finance and manufacturing

After demystifying its importance beyond the cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, Blockchain IoT has now been touted as the next wave of opportunities not only for developers. Its possibilities have begun to attract channel partners in the United States, such as Florida’s Project Radium, as a mean of differentiating themselves in the market via consultations on corporate projects, particularly in the finance and manufacturing industries. With more vendors making broad use of blockchain – such as IBM that allows customers to share data in a private and secure blockchain as part of their Watson IoT platform – the channel is forced to upgrade to stay competitive.

By 2021, global spending on blockchain solutions will reach $ 9.2 billion with annual growth of about 80 percent, according to IDC

In practice, Blockchain IoT allows increasing the speed of commercial transactions through intelligent contracts and independently executed programming codes, with output being confirmed by multiple participants of a network; thus creating a program whose logic – contractual terms between parties – can be trusted by all, according to the Ernst & Young’s report “Blockchain: the hype, the opportunity and what you should do”. The document points out that, despite the lack of interoperability required for secure deployments and questions regarding data management and security identity, the technology is developing, and as such existing business processes will be changed and new business models will emerge. The key to profiting from this new technology is to seek information on how to help customers engage in this new ecosystem: start small with data in blockchains, and expand gradually, as well as identify and substantiate their projects before worrying about scale-up and adoption consumers.

The numbers inspire confidence in a promising future for those who are prepared. By 2021, global spending on blockchain solutions will reach $ 9.2 billion with annual growth of about 80 percent, according to IDC. The USA will capture the largest investments with more than 40% of world spending in the period. By 2018, contributions will reach US $ 2.1 billion, more than double of the amount in 2017, when it was US $ 945 million.

Investment in blockchain will be led by the financial sector (US $ 754 million in 2018), driven mainly by rapid adoption in banks. The distribution and services sector (US $ 510 million in 2018) will invest in the retail and professional services industries, while the production and resources sector (US $ 448 million in 2018) will be driven by the manufacturing and process industries.

With several clients investing in technology, Philip C. Berg, director of the US consulting firm Otterboug, PC, in New York, believes that “Blockchain is an attractive option for financial transactions and supply chain businesses and it is a consensus that the hash algorithm is a BGP [Border Gateway Protocol] intelligent solution.” He explains that although the regulations have not yet been established in the US, the outlook is positive. “The technology will supersede several current security protocols, ownership records and supply chain management. More people are getting involved in following the current rules and setting compliance parameters.”

Pioneer

Emerging blockchain technology had the lowest level of awareness among 700 US companies, according to a survey conducted by CompTIA, a nonprofit association that offers IT certifications. Only 21% of the respondents said they had consumed information on the subject. However, “among this group there is a belief that blockchain will be a watershed,” says Seth Robinson, CompTIA’s senior director of technology analysis. “Forty-three percent of people familiar with blockchain said they are already seeing the technology impact their business, and 30 percent of them believe they will see an impact in a year or two.”

Therefore, some channel partners in the US are already making their way to opportunities such as developer Project Radium LLC, which has been offering blockchain and token consultation for clients for two years. According to its founder and manager Tim Mesker, the company has undertaken several projects focusing on the development of tokens, specifically on Ethereum and Graphene/BitShares for private networks, and now plans to outsource its management services to the entire development lifecycle.

For him, the blockchain opportunities are in the work of integration “because the technology is based on a compiled system, such as bitcoin, or a smart contract platform, such as Ethereum or Hyperledger.” He explains that for the creation of a blockchain platform, you need web design, hardware integration, and operating systems in an API package around these block integrations.

That makes consulting more than necessary. “Often, people have a great idea, but they do not know how to deal with business integration.” In addition, Mesker says, “the IT industry and startup people do not understand about transactions, immutability, and databases that fit a specific purpose”.

Therefore, Project Radium has advised clients on how to integrate blockchain tokens into their product, whether custom tokens or initial ICOs, which are a huge deal now, while respecting the laws of values ​​and commodities.

Protocol

Taking care of the safety regulation of a complex system like Blockchain IoT has been one of the biggest international concerns. In January, several vendors, including Cisco, announced that they are developing a shared blockchain IoT protocol. Through the consortium, vendors will work with Fortune 500 companies and startups to define the scope and implementation of a protocol layer across multiple major blockchain systems enabling new supply chain and logistics management applications.

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