Hyperledger, a collaborative cross-industry effort to advance blockchain technology, has announced that NEC Corporation has joined the project as a Premier member.

The Linux Foundation hosts Hyperledger as a Collaborative Project under the foundation. Since the beginning of 2016, it has grown to over 140 members spanning various industries, including finance, healthcare, the Internet of Things and Aeronautics, among several others. It aims to create common distributed ledger technology that enables organizations to build and run robust, industry-specific applications, platforms and hardware systems to support their individual business transactions.

"NEC joining as a Premier member further broadens Hyperledger's global footprint and is great to see," said Hyperledger Executive Director, Brian Behlendorf. "As an innovative leader in efficient social and technical solutions, we're excited for the value and expertise they can bring to Hyperledger to advance open blockchain services for many industries."

NEC Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. As a premier member, Daichi Iwata, Head of NEC's FinTech Business Development Office, will join the Hyperledger Governing Board.

"NEC globally provides safe, secure and efficient social solutions for governments, governmental agencies, financial institutions and other organizations by combining its technology assets with broad systems integration expertise and customer assets," said Osamu Fujikawa, Senior Vice President, Head of the Business Innovation Unit, NEC. "Regarding blockchain, NEC has been leading academic research on blockchain security since the beginning of Bitcoin. We believe blockchain is a transformative technology and are committed to advancing its adoption by contributing our expertise and knowledge to the Hyperledger community."