IBM’s Bluemix Garage to Spearhead Blockchain and Fintech

IBM (NYSE: IBM) has just announced the launch of its IBM Bluemix Garage in New York City, with the goal to prosper the global development population. The company has its sights set on cloud developers, fintech, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and a broad range of the emerging tech coming to play in the world.

The tech garage in SoHo, New York City will be aimed to expand financial technology, distributed ledger applications and a vast array of technical innovations says IBM. According to Evans Data Corp., the worldwide developer population is set to reach 25 million by 2020. With the help of using Bluemix Garages to tap into IBM resources, the company says users will be able to advance “cloud APIs around cognitive, Internet of Things, unstructured data, social media and more to swiftly build and launch innovations.” IBM says developers working within the tech garage will be able to accelerate distributed ledger technology a phenomenon that is being embraced by financial markets and more.

The NY location is one of the newest efforts to join the network of Bluemix Garages located worldwide which include San Francisco, London, Toronto, Nice, Tokyo, and Singapore. More IBM Bluemix Garages are planned for the second half of 2016. The Tokyo location is where Mizuho Financial Group is exploring distributed ledger technology research and development with IBM resources. The garage will be located on the newly launched campus operated by the firm Galvanize. The company is a service that helps produce developers, data scientists, and the creation of tech startups. Jim Deters, co-founder, and CEO of Galvanize explained in the announcement:

“Galvanize has been a great home and partner for IBM’s groundbreaking Bluemix Garage on our San Francisco campus, and we are excited to bring that partnership to New York City. Having IBM’s Garage in New York City, within the Galvanize community, allows our strong network of developers and startups to leverage the power of the cloud and the expertise of IBM to competitively innovate products and apps in the growing fintech and blockchain spaces.”

Prashant Bhuyan, co-founder, and CEO of Alpha Modus explained the benefits of IBM’s Bluemix SoHo, New York rollout stating:

“Ramping up more companies on Bluemix will be a significant addition to New York City’s tech economy, as it enables financial tech companies like us to innovate with APIs such as Watson. Using Bluemix, we’ve been able to roll out transformational apps that leverage cognitive analytics with unbelievable time and efficiency –helping to shake up the way our clients invest in the markets.”

The garage is located at 315 Hudson Street in New York City’s SoHo district and has recently become well-known for being a startup area of innovation. The new garage will work with budding developers and startup with business development, hybrid cloud integration, app development, and skills development. Developers will be able to work with consultants and seasoned experts already fluent with the Bluemix protocol.

IBM has also released a new study today concerning the ramifications of blockchain technology called “Fast Forward: Rethinking enterprises, ecosystems, and economies.” IBM wants to ramp up blockchain projects with the mission to use the Bluemix Garage accelerator and other resources the company explains the importance of distributed ledgers in the future stating:

“Blockchain technology – which creates a permanent and transparent record of transactions – has the potential to obviate intractable inhibitors across industries. As frictions fall, a new science of organization emerges, and the way we structure industries and enterprises will take novel shape. With transparency the norm, a robust foundation for trust can become the springboard for further ecosystem evolution. Participants and assets once shut out of markets can join in, unleashing an accelerated flow of capital and unprecedented opportunities to create wealth.”

IBM says it is actively working with “hundreds of clients” in order to make blockchain enterprise ready. For example, Mizuho Financial Group’s work with distributed ledgers will try to enhance the financial technology space and IBM says the firm is using the “open source Linux Foundation Hyperledger Project.” The multinational corporation IBM believes in expanding blockchain tech to enable better financial services, IoT, risk management, healthcare, big data, DevOps, security and more. The firm believes these “areas are poised for dramatic change using blockchain.”

The SoHo garage in New York will use these protocols widely with startups and developers looking to learn. Bluemix, IBM’s Cloud platform, is said to have over “120,000 apps are launched every month,” and is rapidly becoming one of the largest global developing networks worldwide. IBM states this is because of  “open standards, which features over 140 tools and services spanning categories of big data, mobile, Watson, analytics, integration, DevOps, security and the Internet of Things. It is safe to say IBM wants a big piece of the fintech and blockchain markets and continues to be a top player in the game.

Sources: IBM Press Release, Mizuho Financial Group Press Release, IBM Institute for Business Value report

Images: IBM Institute for Business Value report, Pixabay