IBM Launches Blockchain Platform on Cloud Service in Melbourne

IBM has released its blockchain main net out of its data center located in Melbourne, Australia.

This will purportedly allow their customers to run their applications on the company's cloud, according to an article published on news outlet ZDNet on Feb 11.The IBM platform was built on Hyperledger Fabric.

Hyperledger is a project that aims to improve cross-industry blockchain technologies that is hosted by the Linux Foundation.

A Sydney-based IBM data center is reportedly set to open at the end of March, joining the other centers in Tokyo, London, Dallas, São Paulo, and Toronto.

The head of blockchain for IBM in Australia and New Zealand, Rupert Colchester, told ZDNet that a second center would make the technology more widely available and provide a redundancy.

Colchester said, "Customers who are deploying blockchain applications have reached a maturity of projects that requires the data to be stored in Australia."

In September of last year, Australian real estate major Vicinity announced it will trial a blockchain solution for its energy network.

IBM has been actively expanding its use of blockchain technology.

On Feb. 8, IBM announced that a project using blockchain and the Internet of Things to combat drought in the United States state of California is underway.

IBM Research and sensor tech provider SweetSense partnered with the University of Colorado Boulder and the non-profit Freshwater Trust to use blockchain and IoT to manage the use of groundwater.