IBM opens new Bluemix Garage dedicated to cloud blockchain application development

IBM has announced the opening of a new Bluemix Garage for blockchain developers near New York City, dedicated to enabling developers and enterprises to use IBM blockchain code in the cloud. The Garage will invite startups and enterprises to collaborate in an innovative environment.

IBM is stepping up its efforts to become a top player in the emerging field of distributed ledger technology. IBM is also a key member of the Linux Foundation-led Hyperledger Project, which is dedicated to building and maintaining an open-source, non-bitcoin blockchain.

The announcement comes amid a broad push by IBM to expand its expertise in the blockchain industry.

Earlier this month, IBM announced the establishment of a large Watson center in Singapore's Marina Bay, designed to accommodate 5,000 computer scientists from the Asia-Pacific region. The center also includes a new IBM Garage. Earlier, in April this year, IBM announced the launch of a new cloud service based on the company's Hyperledger code and Bluemix cloud platform.

Nearly 120,000 apps are launched on the Bluemix platform every month, and it is becoming one of the world's largest, open cloud deployment platforms. Based on open standards, the cloud platform has more than 140 tools and services, spanning big data, mobile, Watson, analysis, integration, DevOps, security and the Internet of Things.

Then, just last week, IBM announced that Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group’s newly opened IBM Garage in Tokyo had been used to test a digital currency-based blockchain settlement system.

Cloud Blockchain

The garages, including ones in San Francisco, London, Toronto and Nice, France, are part of an industry-wide race among cloud computing providers to capitalize on the benefits of blockchain.

For example, last month, Amazon Web Services announced that it would work to provide a blockchain experiment environment for enterprises. In addition, in March this year, Microsoft Cloud Services added five blockchain startups to its blockchain-as-a-service platform.

According to IBM, they are now adding 20,000 developers per week to their Bluemix cloud platform.