IBM Takes the Lead in ABI Research’s Industrial Blockchain-as-a-Service Competitive Assessment

Oyster Bay, New York - 12 Aug 2020

Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) is a type of cloud-based solution for the development of blockchain applications. BaaS serves as a launchpad for broader blockchain technology adoption, effectively providing developers with a functional environment in which to build, test, and run new blockchain applications without having to worry about building the infrastructure from scratch or hosting and managing it. The Industrial Blockchain-as-a-Service competitive assessment examined companies offering BaaS solutions catering to industrial blockchain applications, including construction, pharmaceutical and life sciences, utilities, manufacturing, automotive, distribution, energy, and agriculture.  Global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research, has found that IBM and Microsoft are the clear leaders in industrial blockchain-as-a-service offerings.

Using ABI Research’s proven, unbiased innovation/implantation criteria framework, the Industrial BaaS Competitive Assessment analyzed and ranked six industrial BaaS vendors, namely Alibaba, Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP. For this competitive assessment, innovation scores examined industrial POCs, industrial internet integration, ecosystem support, current roadmap, and geographic reach. Implementation criteria focused on platform choice, developer resources, integration with legacy industrial, management tools, and pricing.

“Both the BaaS markets and the digitalization 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 Internet of Things (IoT) offerings. As a result, only large companies play in the BaaS market, and all have varying levels of service offerings,” says Michela Menting, Research Director at ABI Research.

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 3rd, 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.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Industrial BaaS Competitive Assessment report. This report is part of the company’s Digital Security research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights. Competitive Assessment reports offer comprehensive analysis of implementation strategies and innovation, coupled with market share analysis, to offer unparalleled insight into a company’s performance and standing in comparison to its competitors.