Gemalto enters blockchain field, or becomes a rival to blockchain security companies

Editor's Preface: The development of blockchain technology has attracted widespread attention in the financial technology industry. At the end of January this year, the news that the global digital security giant Gemalto joined hands with the blockchain company Symbiont was also widely reported by the media. As a leading company in the global digital security field, Gemalto seems to feel the threat posed by the new technology. Faced with this threat, how will Gemalto respond?

Digital security giant Gemalto announced at the end of January this year that it had reached a cooperation agreement with blockchain startup Symbiont to improve the security level of blockchain securities transactions. Gemalto is a global leader in digital security, with revenue of 2.5 billion euros in 2014, 116 offices, research centers and service centers in 46 countries, and a total of 14,000 employees.

Mark马克•雅嘉巴斯基, Gemalto's vice president of business strategy, said this is Gemalto's first step in understanding blockchain and, through this collaboration, understanding how to accommodate blockchain-related products and services in its portfolio.

Gemalto is still in the exploration phase of the technology, and Jagabarsky said he sees two potential markets for blockchain technology.

“We believe that the first generation of blockchain will be driven by the financial services industry, and the second generation of blockchain will be combined with the Internet of Things.

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The Internet of Things is also an area that Gemalto is actively developing. In August 2015, Gemalto was awarded the "2015 IoT Evolution Product of the Year" for its LinqUs on-demand connectivity solution.

Jagabarsky said Gemalto is leveraging its existing expertise to develop new business opportunities around these new use cases.

It is worth noting that Yagabarsky pointed out that Gemalto has provided technical support to some Bitcoin trading platforms. Using its hardware security module (HSM) to improve the level of encryption security. Yagabarsky did not disclose which Bitcoin exchanges are using its technology. However, the New York-based Gemini exchange previously stated that it cooperated with SafeNet to use its HSM technology as part of its key storage. SafeNet was later acquired by Gemalto.

Private or Permissioned Blockchain?

Yagabarsky said Gemalto is interested in all kinds of applications that emerge, but is leaning toward certain specific applications such as smart contracts or programmable contracts, which may have greater opportunities.

Dissenting from the "anonymous" nature of the bitcoin blockchain, Yagabarsky said Gemalto may look more toward applying its technology to private or permissioned blockchains, where institutions have control over the nodes that process transactions.

Yagabarsky said the public nature of the bitcoin blockchain is a point of conflict with Gemalto.

Yaga Baskii said:

“We are looking for opportunities to work with private and permissioned blockchains…Our technology can be used in new applications and we are doing what we have always done, which is to ensure that the financial industry can execute transactions securely and that user identities are safe.”

Cooperation or competition?

Speaking of Gemalto's collaboration with Symbiont, Yagabarsky said that Gemalto's clients have been asking us to participate in the emerging industry of blockchain, so the collaboration with Symbiont is timely and beneficial for Gemalto.

Yagabarsky believes that the reason why its product HSM is attractive to companies seeking to ensure the security of blockchain networks is that there is an overlap between blockchain and Gemalto's core competencies.

“We have a long history of developing payment cards, payment chips and key management systems. We have extensive experience in ensuring the security of payment transactions.”

Yagabarsky went on to say that Gemalto believes that security solutions around blockchain technology are not yet mature, and the market is also immature, and most players in this market are moving forward cautiously.

He believes that Gemalto is able to hold its own against other blockchain security vendors such as BitGo and Gem in this regard:

“From what I’ve seen, Bitcoin and blockchain solutions are definitely still in their infancy and have a lot of room for development and improvement.”

Early dialogue

Despite this, Gemalto has yet to formally enter this emerging market.

Jagabarsky said that currently the main interest among Gemalto's customers is to understand how best to deploy blockchain networks, which means they are not yet sure whether to deploy blockchain technology in data centers or on private or public clouds.

“From talking to most potential blockchain adopters, I find that they are looking for enterprise-grade solutions where they will deploy blockchain in their own data centers.”

Take Microsoft as an example. It launched the Azure BaaS (Blockchain as a Service) platform, providing a blockchain testing platform for enterprises and financial institutions.

Gemalto, which is still in the exploratory stage, cannot give a definite answer on how to deploy blockchain, but Yagabarsky believes that this emerging market will gradually grow and provide Gemalto with room to compete in the industry.

Yagabarsky concluded:

“We believe that solutions built on blockchain will expand rapidly, and we hope to become the preferred security service company for users.”

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/security-giant-gemalto-sees-two-waves-of-blockchain-adoption-forming/
By Pete Rizzo
Translator: printemps
Editor: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/gemalto-blockchain)