Companies To Start Developing POCs Based On Open Ledger Project By 2017 , says IBM

The blockchain initiative spearheaded by IBM, the Open Ledger Project, has become quite a hot topic of discussion. In addition to IBM, companies involved in the project include Accenture, ANZ Bank, CLS, Credits, Digital Asset Holdings, Fujitsu, Initiative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, State Street, SWIFT, VMware and Wells Fargo and it will be overseen by Linux Foundation.

In an interview with CoinDesk, Jerry Cuomo of IBM fellow called the distributed ledger technology "a fundamental way of reimagining core business processes".

"The art of the possible with blockchain is really what brings us to the table," Cuomo told CoinDesk.

Coming to the progress made in the initiative, he said that a formation committee for the project has already started meeting. The next phase will focus on the Open Ledger Project’s structure; support and contributions from each party; and the creation of subcommittees, including a technical committee on which he will sit.

Also, the process for those contributing code to the project has already started, which will draw from code written by IBM staff as well as code pledged by Digital Asset Holdings, Cuomo added.

"Last week we did a call for code, and it’s like, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, so let’s put the code on the table," he said and added that the process of development coming together has already begun, saying "you can see folks aren’t waiting" ahead of a more formal process.

He noted that the development will take place over a period of years, and was hopeful that by next year companies will begin developing Proof of Concepts and commercial-scale products based on the Open Ledger Project.

"History shows that these things take a while," he told CoinDesk. "The bold will adopt it sooner, rollercoasters and bumps and all, and conservatives will wait for the first movers."