Tibco to tackle blockchain challenges

Tibco has started a research lab to develop new products and services in emerging areas such as blockchain, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT).

In blockchain, for example, the integration and analytics software company has formed a project dubbed Dovetail to address the challenges of implementing the technology.

Noting that the blockchain ecosystem is fragmented with a lack of tooling and standardisation, Tibco’s global CTO Nelson Petracek told reporters at a company event in Las Vegas that Project Dovetail will make it easier to model smart contracts without deep programming experience.

Logic is abstracted from low-level code, and contracts can be deployed into different blockchain stacks with little or no change. Tibco said on-chain and off-chain computation can become more seamless, time-to-market is improved and the risk of technology lock-in is reduced.

Tibco’s blockchain technology is also being applied in its AuditSafe tool, a cloud-based audit ledger that enterprises can use to store and audit events generated by business processes in Tibco Cloud and other third-party systems.

Project Dovetail and the formation of Tibco’s new lab, which is open to participation by Tibco customers and partners, come at a time when interest in blockchain is growing across the Asia-Pacific region.

In July 2018, Singapore-based Global eTrade Services started an open trade blockchain network to boost cross-border trade between China and the rest of Asia.

Aligned with China’s Belt Road Initiative and the Southern Transport Corridor, the permissioned blockchain network is run by trusted nodes hosted by accredited trade compliance companies.

By enhancing the security of trading documents, such as certificates of origin and commercial invoices, the blockchain network is expected to promote transparency and trust between shippers, freight-forwarders and customers.

In Australia, professional services firm Herbert Smith Freehills, Data61 and IBM are building a national blockchain to manage smart contracts from negotiation, through signing and across a contract’s lifecycle. A pilot scheme is underway, and if the system works as expected, it will be offered first to Australian enterprises and then internationally.

According to market research firm Netscribes, the global blockchain technology market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 42.8% and reach nearly $14bn by 2022.

North America accounts for the largest share of blockchain adoption, and is expected to dominate the overall market in the near future. However, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to adopt this technology at a faster rate owing to its wide adoption in China and India.

In a separate EY poll in June 2018, 61% of senior professionals said regulatory complexity was the biggest barrier to widespread adoption of blockchain, followed by integration with legacy technology (51%) and a lack of general understanding of blockchain’s capabilities (49%).