Cloud services giant VMware has revealed its long-awaited enterprise blockchain platform has now entered general availability.
According to a company blog post, VMware Blockchain will provide a single source of data truth, through which organizations can unify otherwise fragmented workflows.
The service is designed to tear down data silos and facilitate multi-party collaboration in a manner that does not jeopardize data privacy or security, enabling businesses to unlock a wealth of untapped value.
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Geared predominantly towards the financial services industry, the new platform also aims to introduce efficiencies that will help shorten processing times, reduce manual processing and create new profit avenues.
According to VMware, the platform can be deployed in a matter of minutes, thanks to a simple-to-use orchestration tool that takes advantage of familiar interfaces and infrastructure.
Enterprise blockchain
Although enterprise blockchain is very much still in its nascent stages, VMware is not the only legacy IT behemoth to dabble in the emerging technology; IBM, AWS, Azure, Alibaba, and Oracle all boast blockchain products of some kind.
Critics say that blockchain advocates are inclined to create problems to fit the technology, as opposed to building a technology to address real-world problems. But others say enterprise blockchain - which is designed to promote transparency, auditability and security - has clear use cases in the fields of supply chain, data protection, financial services, digital identity and more.
“Today’s multi-party enterprise workflows are fragmented and highly complex to maintain, resulting in delays, increased costs, and hindered innovation. Workflow data is often siloed within enterprise boundaries, resulting in inefficient and costly steps to share and reconcile data across these boundaries,” explained VMware.
“To redefine these workflows, a new technology platform that provides a single source of truth across multiple parties is needed.”
After the furore surrounding blockchain and cryptocurrency that followed the monumental rise of Bitcoin in 2017 and the explosion of ICOs the following year, it was predicted that blockchain would eventually become an enterprise mainstay - no more noteworthy than any other service.
While this projection has not yet been realized, the addition of yet another legacy IT player to the space further legitimizes the belief that the technology will prove transformative in business.
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