One of the common challenges many larger organisations face is how to unlock data which is traditionally siloed and non-accessible and often held in legacy systems.This is a real problem for many institutions, and it was argued that TSB’s IT challenges led to it costing TSB over £330 million as customers were locked out of their bank accounts for weeks.
One organisation tackling this challenge is Constellation Network Inc, based in California, which is a company using Blockchain technology, and which just signed a contract with the United States Air Force (USAF). The focus is to help the USAF with its complex supply chains. Constellation will be using Microsoft’s Azure services and also be assisting the USAF with its Additive Manufacturing (AM) parts program, using 3D printing in remote locations, potentially including battlefields. There is a necessity with AM to be able to register, track and hold data securely (but make it accessible) without being intercepted, so third parties cannot modify or alter this data.
Benjamin Jorgensen, Constellation’s CEO, said “The move by the United States Government to work with early-stage businesses and early innovation shows a massive shift by the public sector to be leaders in revolutionizing existing infrastructures by adopting new technologies that protect consumers’ privacy, while tackling futuristic visions of the connected world and joining the private sector in the $50B industry of big data”.
This is another good example of how Blockchain technology is being used ‘top-down’, i.e. by governments to solve complex problems. Since other organisations see how data can be held secure enough for national defence purposes, the Blockchain technology ought to offer them comfort regarding adopting this technology.
