IBM, Tata Communications join blockchain tech governing council Hedera

IT services and solutions provider IBM and Tata Communications have joined the Hedera governing council that governs the usage of enterprise-ready Hedera Hashgraph distributed ledger platform.

“Hyperledger has proven to be the de facto standard enterprises use to build, manage, and deploy blockchain-based ledgers. We believe Hedera could help provide an interesting way to enhance and simplify the deployment of Hyperledger Fabric in the enterprise, making it easier for groups to build and grow their networks,” Jerry Cuomo, vice president of blockchain technologies at IBM, said.

The governing council for the blockchain technology will include 39 multinational entities from various industries. All members will have an equal say in approving updates to the policies and codes for the platform, according to a statement issued by Hedera.

Council members are expected to serve a maximum of two consecutive three-year terms and act as stewards of the platform, it said.

“The addition of IBM and Tata Communications to the Hedera Governing Council is a powerful endorsement of the hashgraph consensus mechanism, and further decentralizes the governance of Hedera Hashgraph. Our governance model, which includes a robust system of checks and balances, ensures power can’t be consolidated, while at the same time providing a stable and scalable platform on which developers can build,” Mance Harmon, CEO of Hedera Hashgraph, said. 

Hedera will open up its codebase for review, making sure that the network has not been compromised. 

Several companies in India and abroad are also eyeing blockchain as a new revenue earning opportunity. 

This week, Reliance Jio has signed a 10-year contract with Microsoft to provide emerging technologies-based solutions to enterprises in the country. This includes blockchain, analytics, artificial intelligence and Internet of things. 

Last week, Indian IT services firm Tech Mahindra had said that it was partnering with US-based blockchain solutions provider BlockApps to accelerate the adoption of blockchain networks by enterprises.

As part of the acceleration strategy, Tech Mahindra will bring its data and data systems expertise from digital transformation projects and BlockApps will provide its STRATO blockchain platform.

In April, Tech Mahindra had partnered with Samsung SDS, a unit of South Korean electronics giant Samsung, to develop and provide blockchain solutions. According to the terms of the partnership, Tech Mahindra will offer Samsung SDS's blockchain platform called Nexledger to both its global and Indian customers.