ABI Research credits IBM with lead in industrial blockchain-as-a-service

Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) is a cloud-based solution for the development of blockchain applications.

It serves as a launchpad for the wider adoption of blockchain technology, providing developers with a functional environment to build, test, and run new blockchain applications without needing to build infrastructure, and host and manage it.

ABI Research’s The Industrial Blockchain-as-a-Service assessment examined companies offering BaaS solutions catering for construction, pharmaceutical and life sciences, utilities, manufacturing, automotive, distribution, energy, and agriculture. 

It found that IBM and Microsoft are the clear leaders in industrial blockchain-as-a-service offerings.

Ranking

The assessment analysed and ranked six industrial vendors – Alibaba, Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP and examined industrial proofs of concept, industrial internet integration, ecosystem support, roadmap and geographic reach.

Implementation criteria focused on platform choice, developer resources, integration with legacy industrial, management tools, and pricing.

Michela Menting, Research Director at ABI Research, “Both the BaaS markets and the digitalisation of industrial markets are fairly nascent phenomena.

Often, the intersection of blockchain and industrial service offerings are only within the remit of large technology providers with mature cloud and IoT offerings. As a result, only large companies play in the BaaS market, and have varying levels of service offerings.”

IBM on top overall

Overall, IBM comes out on top, leading on both the innovation and the implementation front. The firm’s platform is open to a broad range of industrial verticals and has run a significant number of pilots and PoCs in the last five years, making it by far the most prominent BaaS provider in the space.  It also offers a broad range of platform choices and provides multi-cloud integration, above and beyond the other offerings.

Microsoft was ranked second, as a mainstream vendor, due to its resource-rich, flexible development and management infrastructure for its BaaS offering.

Oracle comes in a solid third, also as a mainstream vendor, with good industrial ecosystem support and comprehensive management tools.

SAP, Amazon, and Alibaba have robust BaaS platforms, but with a more limited industrial play than the Assessment leaders.

Given the Trump Administration’s war on Chinese companies, Alibaba’s future outside China could be uncertain.