Demand for Blockchain is growing so much that it will be one of the largest users of capacity next year at about 60 data centres that IBM rents out to other companies around the globe.
IBM was one of the first big companies to see blockchain’s promise, contributing code to an open-source effort and encouraging startups to try the technology on its cloud for free. That a 106-year-old company like
IBM is going all in on blockchain shows just how far the digital ledger has come since its early days underpinning bitcoin drug deals on the dark web. The market for blockchain-related products and services will reach $7.7 billion in 2022, up from $242 million last year, according to researcher Markets & Markets.
IBM and Microsoft are making a killing from those who are making the transition to cloud services. Suddenly old databases sold by Oracle have a use again. In October, Oracle announced the formation of Oracle Blockchain Cloud Service, which helps customers extend existing applications like enterprise-resource management systems. A month earlier, SAP said clients in industries like manufacturing and supply chain were testing its cloud service.
Vole has expanded its partnership with consortium R3 to make it easier for financial institutions to deploy blockchains in its Azure cloud. Big Blue, meanwhile, has been one of the key companies behind the Hyperledger consortium, a nonprofit open-source project that aims to create adequate standards for commercial use of blockchain technology.
A Juniper Research survey found six in 10 larger corporations are considering blockchain, according to the article, which adds that blockchain “is increasingly being tested or used by companies such as Wal-Mart Stores and Visa to streamline supply chain, speed up payments and store records.”
And because of blockchain’s popularity, the CEO of WinterGreen Research predicts that 55 percent of large companies with over 1,000 employees will use the cloud rather than their own data centres within five years — up from 17 percent today.
