If you had any doubt there is broad industry interest in blockchain, look no further than the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger Project. It has grown by 170 percent since its formal launch in February, now counting 80 members compared to the original 30 founding members.
Hyperledger is aimed at creating an open standard for distributed ledger technology. Here are the details on the latest additions to the group from the Linux Foundation's announcement:
Hyperledger Project is working to enable organizations to build and run robust, industry-specific applications, platforms and hardware systems to support their individual business transactions by creating an enterprise grade, open source distributed ledger framework and code base.
The new Hyperledger members come from across Europe, Asia and the United States and join a rapidly growing and diverse group across finance, banking, Internet of Things, supply chains, manufacturing and other technologies. The latest members include: Cloud Security Alliance, Energy Blockchain Laboratory, Global Peersafe Technology Corp., Inuit Foundation - University of Rome "Tor Vergata," Intuit, Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship (IFSE), iRootech Technology Co., Ltd, MIRACL UK Limited, Netki, Nxt Foundation, Orange Magic Cube (GoX Tech), Samsung SDS, Sany Heavy Group Co., Ltd, Tai Cloud Corp., Union Mobile Pay E-Commerce Co., Ltd., Wutongtree and Yunphant Blockchain.
Efforts such as the Hyperledger Project are not only welcome but sorely needed, says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Steve Wilson.
That's because blockchain-based technologies "are complex and counterintuitive yet there is so much nonsense out there about blockchain based on guesswork," he says. "People need rock solid advice about what blockchain does, what it does not and cannot do, and where it's going. They need good guidance so they don't waste time implementing solutions on blockchain that are better off on regular databases."
Blockchain-based technologies are complex and evolving so rapidly that most organizations are best advised to not go it alone but rather to leave research and development to others with the necessary resources. "This is why the big 'ledger labs' are so important," Wilson says. "There are few organizations or teams with critical mass, deep expertise, deep science resources to deal with new algorithm development and cryptography."
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