IOTA: #2 of real world use cases
As indicated by my first article, IOTA is aiming at real world adoption. Recently, there have been many announcements which give proof to this endeavor.
1. DXC Technology
This tweet was posted today:
You probably have not yet heard of this company (it is the German/Austrian/Swiss branch’s tweet) although you should have:
As the world’s leading independent, end-to- end IT services company, we are uniquely positioned to lead digital transformations — creating greater value for clients, partners and shareholders, and presenting growth opportunities for our people. We are among the world’s best corporate citizens.
We have 150,000 employees in more than 70 countries, serving some 6,000 clients. We tap into global talent, powerful next-generation IT solutions and extensive partner relationships to help clients transform digitally and seize opportunities.
Our extensive partner network helps us drive collaboration and leverage technology independence. We have established more than 250 industry-leading global Partner Network relationships, including 15 strategic partners: Amazon Web Services, AT&T, Dell EMC, HCL, Hitachi, HPE, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Micro Focus, Microsoft, Oracle, PwC, SAP and ServiceNow. (source)
We don’t know yet what it will be about but such a company cannot afford to present something half-cooked at the “world’s leading trade show for industrial technology”. One could speculate about what the tweet’s picture shows in the background of the robot (drinks, IOTA balances/costs) yet it doesn’t make sense at this stage. Still, it is noteworthy that such a company would pick IOTA as the technology for such a demo.
2. Fujitsu
Today, Fujitsu Germany uploaded the following blog post:
Since many might not speak German, I have translated some relevant parts of that text:
Title: These are the advantages of IOTA as opposed to Blockchain
Blockchain or IOTA, which one is the better technology? This question has been of interest within the international industry lately […] Many do not know what is really behind this innovation and what the advantages are. Just before the Hannover trade fair 2018, IOTA-expert Udo Würtz, Fujitsu Distinguished Engineer, Business Development Director EMEIA and Chief Evangelist Data Center Business EMEIA at Fujitsu answers the most important questions as far as IOTA is concerned. […]
All transactions on the Tangle are linked to each other. This contains many advantages and enhances the possibilities of its application substantially. Many customers ask us first for a blockchain solution and then realize that IOTA fits their requirements a lot better. This is even more the case when it is about solutions of industrial scale. […]
There are lots of factors which render IOTA interesting. Summarizing, one can say that there are 5 areas in which IOTA beats Blockchain strikingly:
transaction rate
scalability
ability to realize micropayments
efficiency
verifiable security against manipulation […]
ad 1): The transaction rate increases extremely the more users use the system. On top of that, the time for confirming the respective transaction with IOTA is a lot lower/faster.[…]
ad 2): The more users and transactions the system has, the faster it is. And even more important: the latency — meaning the time between issuing a transaction and validating it-is virtually zero as soon as you reach a certain magnitude/scale.
ad 3) […] This is what makes it so interesting: The low latency paired with the possibility to pay even smallest amounts without any fees. […] [He explains that this doesn’t apply for Blockchain due to high fees) This is not the case with IOTA: Everyone is part of the net and you automatically validate others. Thus, it is possible to also process also smallest amounts.
ad 4) […] Power consumption for mining Bitcoins is at the moment the same as Argentina’s annual electric power consumption — this is incredible! For companies, this is not acceptable. IOTA is in this respect a lot smarter because you do not need all these mining processes.
ad 5) […] IOTA could help companies to verify their data. The simplest would be if a company with high computing power, as for instance Fujitsu, acted as a Trusted Instance. This Trusted Instance gets a copy of the blockchain of the respective company and is supplied with this company’s blockchain once — the so-called Genesis-block. All transactions then happen on the company’s blockchain as well as on the Trusted Instance’s blockchain, in that case Fujitsu. During validation the auditor only has to compare the two blockchains to each other. If both transaction histories are the same, no manipulation has happened. […] New technologies are built for new use cases at which the company itself cannot make any binding statement about the expected transaction volume. And how are you supposed to define a service and its compensation or balance accounts? IOTA helps with the practical realization of such a cooperation. Because the latency is so low, every single transaction be paid automatically, for example, with one IOTA.
So could IOTA replace the accounting system in the future?
In many cases absolutely. The example of the Trusted Instance-payment makes this evident: basically, the whole accounting is not there because the payment is done instantly. The process would be proceeded automatically to a Fujitsu Clearing Center. This in turn could tell the other systems that the transaction has been paid and is, thus, valid. No need for accounting system, billing or dunning. You do not need all of this because the money is simply there.
How is IOTA so interesting for the industry?
It is the combination of the above-mentioned 5 biggest advantages of IOTA. Moreover, IOTA is way more than a payment system. Companies can adapt the Tangle-technology in order to support their use cases, to also integrate payments, to document all transactions legally at the same time and much more. It is not only about a robot paying another robot for certain services via IOTA. When required, the system controls the robot simultaneously. It tells him: turn right now, get the parcel and receive and pay a new Firmware-update tonight at 2am. Moreover, companies can connect all their products on the basis of IOTA with each other and control them, a topic for Industry 4.0. This is a real alternative to cloud-solutions. For this, IOTA has the Masked Authenticated Messaging (MAM) on board. MAM allows for a sending out an encrypted data stream and access it afterwards. On top of that, MAM ensures integrity, privacy and data access management. Because of this it is one of the drivers for IOTA’s adoption by the industry.
[…] Generally, integrated IoT-communication will increase and it will be exciting to see what the IOTA technology will enable us to do.
Nothing to add here. Again, a huge company is more than excited about the possibilities which IOTA offers.
3. PASS
Another tweet came from this company:
Here is what this is about:
This is of course a very sophisticated approach. It will be interesting to see what the new website will tell us about this.
4. eHealth
Something else was due yesterday:
At this event possibilities of integrating Blockchain and Distributed Ledger into the health care were discussed. One of the participants tweeted:
This shows that IOTA has taken further steps to realize what was started back in June, 2017:
5. Smart Drains (Australia)
Another cool project I stumbled across was this one:
Now EYEfi is a company which has supplied Melbourne, Australia, with its smart waste technology. What this means is that bins in Melbourne were equipped with sensors which tell the local authorities once a bin is full and needs to be emptied. This saves unnecessary routes of the garbage trucks and thus helps the environment.
Now here’s the kicker: two weeks ago, another partnership was revealed: Fujitsu will help EYEfi in its endeavour to reduce the risk of flooding via ‘smart drains’. What a coincidence. Take the #IOTA-hashtag of the tweet above together with the Fujitsu news and you know what is going on:
I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions regarding IOTA’s real world use cases. Yet one thing is for sure: There are not many other crypto currencies out there who can show off with projects like these. Exciting times…
As always, I would be really happy about donations (you may also read my other articles):
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