20 DC VELOCITY OCTOBER 2017 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
EnerSys has earned the 2016 Leaders in Sustainability
award from Call2Recycle Inc., a not-for-profit organiza-
tion headquartered in Atlanta. … Cloud-based SaaS plat-
form provider Deposco has received the Southeastern
Software Association’s “SSA Standout: Supply Chain–
Logistics” award. … Transportation Insight, a multimod-
al logistics service provider and 2016 U.S. EPA SmartWay
Excellence awardee, was recognized by Food Logistics
magazine as a 2017 Top Green Provider. … Logistics
and supply chain management company DSC Logistics
has presented its 2017 Thinkers and Movers award to
Brian Hancock, executive vice president and chief mar-
keting officer for the Kansas City Southern (KCS), and
Heather Sheehan, retired co-chief procurement officer
at Danaher Corp. and now head of her own consulting
practice, Crispy Concepts LLC. … Rim Logistics Ltd., a
provider of global freight forwarding and third-par-
ty logistics services, was named a Top 25 Logistics
Solution Provider for 2017 by technology magazine
CIO Applications. … Raymond
Handling Concepts Corp., a provider of high-density storage and
order picking systems, has received
the Patriot Employer award from
ESGR (Employer Support of the
Guard and Reserve), an agency
of the Department of Defense. … At the annual technology conference Data Works Summit/Hadoop Summit,
Timothy Leonard, executive vice president of operations
and technology for TMW Systems, was recognized as
a 2017 “Data Visionary” in the Americas Data Heroes
Awards program. … Supply chain solutions provider NFI
has received CargoNet’s Best in Cargo Security award in
the “large motor carrier” category.
accolades
RAYMOND
Blockchain consortium sees bright future in supply chain
A consortium of technology companies including Robert
Bosch GmbH, Cisco Systems Inc., and Gemalto NV will
cooperate in setting standards to boost the adoption of
blockchain software and Internet of Things (Io T) networks
in a move that could improve information sharing and data
security for supply chain applications.
Known as the “Trusted Io T Alliance,” the group intends
to encourage the development of highly secure Io T applications for industry, using blockchain software to ensure that
the data cannot be tampered with, the group said.
Blockchain technology provides a “distributed ledger”
of digital breadcrumbs that verify the identity of digital
records by ensuring they cannot be changed without the
permission of all parties to a given transaction. The technology has recently been gaining traction in transportation
applications, led by vendors such as TCompanies Inc., IBM
Corp., and SAP SE, and even another standards organization, called the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (Bi TA).
The Trusted Io T Alliance was formed to accelerate the
adoption of blockchain for business applications. It will
do this by leveraging the work that has already been done,
not by developing new standards or reinventing the wheel,
Anoop Nannra, head of Cisco’s Blockchain Initiative and
a board member for the Trusted Io T Alliance, said in an
interview. The alliance’s board also has members from
Bosch, Gemalto, Chronicled Inc., and Skuchain. In addition to those founding members, the group includes major
public companies like BNY Mellon and U.S. Bank, as well
as a dozen smaller firms.
BLOCKCHAIN MEETS SUPPLY CHAIN?
While the alliance represents companies from a diverse
array of sectors—such as banking, information technology,
and telecommunications—it hopes to create a blockchain
application model that can accommodate the needs of
specific industries, such as supply chain. “The machine-
to-machine economy is on everyone’s minds, but it means
different things to different people,” Nannra said. “I’m
not sure blockchain practitioners have really addressed the
needs of the supply chain industry, so there’s a lot of work
to be done there.”
Supply chain applications for blockchain could include
self-executing “smart contracts” or virtual wallets that allow
assets to pay for things and engage in commerce them-
selves, within the context of a certain rule set, he said.
Blockchain could also streamline supply chain operations
in cross-border trade and shipping. “[Moving] a container
from one continent to another is a monumental task that
involves literally thousands of people, so it’s a heterogeneous operating environment to begin with,” Nannra said.
“Blockchain connects those ecosystems together in a way
that is immutable and secure, and the technology can greatly improve the visibility and transparency about the state
of goods, or the state of a container, or the state of a ship.”
By giving objects the equivalent of digital birth certificates, a trusted IoT could manage data across multiple
blockchain networks, whether the physical object is a car,
drone, package, or energy meter, the group said.
—Ben Ames
