DC Velocity - January 2018

IBM Corp. Retail behemoth Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is testing blockchain technology, mostly to track food shipments with its suppliers, according to Gartner Inc., a consultancy that presented at the Atlanta event. Japanese automak-er Toyota Motor Corp. is considering a blockchain technology to track auto parts from the point of manufacture to assembly plants in other countries, Gartner said.

WHAT BLOCKCHAIN ISN’T

One wag at the Bi TA event referred to a blockchain as “the thing that enables the thing.” Scrambled syntax notwithstanding, the description is not far from accurate. Because it isn’t a product or service, a blockchain doesn’t replace technologies currently in use. Rather, it augments existing business-to-business integration systems with what Craig called a “shared visibility overlay.” The challenge for developers and users will be to determine where a blockchain fits within the framework of the current IT mosaic, Bart de Muynck, research director at Gartner, said at the Atlanta event.

As with other very nascent processes, the jury is out on how a blockchain would actually perform. A present-day blockchain cannot handle a lot of data and is not scalable, experts said at the conference. Attaining the ultimate objective of executing smart contracts will depend on Congress, states, or the courts writing laws granting them legal authority, a process that could take years.