Cisco, Bosch and others create an IoT blockchain consortium

Bosch, Cisco, BNY Mellon and other innovative Fortune 500 companies has decided to unite efforts to adopt the blockchain to Internet of Things applications.

The formation of the consortium follows the December meeting that saw representatives from a group of industry-leading startups and discussed the challenges facing blockchain and IoT applications and the potential for a collective effort to address them. The group said that they will collaborate to develop a shared blockchain protocol for the Internet of Things.

The consortium members include Ambisafe, BitSE, Chronicled, ConsenSys, Distributed, Filament, Hashed Health, Ledger, Skuchain, and Slock.it, along with Fortune 500 corporations BNY Mellon, Bosch, Cisco, Gemalto, and Foxconn.

The secure and tamper proof nature of cryptocurrency blockchain will be utilized by the consortium to ensure the security of the connection between various IoT devices. The increasing need for securing IoT devices emerged after a massive DDoS attack on the internet exploited several connected devices to do their bidding. With the implementation of IoT devices slated to increase in the coming years, it is the right time to explore all available and potential options.

“Securing identity for physical property and packaging is going to be a big business opportunity over the next decade, high-value parts of logistics supply chains and regulated industries like energy, pharmaceuticals, and cold chain could all see a blockchain component over the next decade,” said Gemalto Director of Product Strategy Joe Pindar.