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IBM Blockchain Platform

IBM Blockchain Platform

Overview

What is IBM Blockchain Platform?

Hyperledger Fabric tools and technologies to help build, govern, operate and grow blockchain solutions that can be deployed anywhere. The IBM Blockchain Platform is IBM's commercial deployment of Hyperledger Fabric open source and comes with 24x7x365 support with…

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Recent Reviews

Very Useful Platform

8 out of 10
December 28, 2020
Incentivized
IBM Blockchain Platform is used to develop and manage the blockchain network of an insurance organization's solution with other companies. …
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good value

4 out of 10
October 19, 2020
Incentivized
IBM Blockchain Platform is helpful for maintaining and securing important and classified information to ensure everything is not only …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

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Pricing

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IBM Blockchain Platform - Software

$0.29

On Premise
per virtual processor core(VPC) hour

IBM Blockchain Platform - SaaS

$0.29

Cloud
per virtual processor core(VPC) hour

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.ibm.com/cloud/blockchain…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Details

What is IBM Blockchain Platform?

Hyperledger Fabric tools and technologies to help build, govern, operate and grow blockchain solutions that can be deployed anywhere.

The IBM Blockchain Platform is IBM's commercial deployment of Hyperledger Fabric open source and comes with 24x7x365 support with production grade SLA's to insure blockchain open source solutions stays running.

IBM Blockchain Platform Features

  • Supported: Powerful, easy to use developer productivity tools: The IBM Blockchain Platform helps make any developer a blockchain developers. Enjoy smooth integration between smart contract development and network management with our new Visual Studio (VS) Code extension. With simplified DevOps in a seamless environment, your team can move easily from development, to test, to production. Plus, smart contracts can be developed in JavaScript, Java, and Go languages.
  • Supported: Operate and govern networks with total control: Deploy only the Hyperledger Fabric components you need (Peer, Ordering Service, Certificate Authority). You can manage all network components through a single console, no matter where they are deployed — and maintain complete control over identities, ledger, and smart contracts.
  • Supported: Manage multicloud, Hybrid-cloud, on-premises networks: Connect to nodes running in any environment (on-premises, public, hybrid clouds) and easily connect a single peer to multiple industry networks. You can start small, with no upfront investment, pay as you grow, and upgrade easily through Kubernetes.
  • Supported: Production grade blockchain support for open source: The IBM Blockchain Platform is IBM's commercial deployment of Hyperledger Fabric (a blockchain open source project of the Linux Foundation). IBM certifies an image of the fabric open source and checks for security vulnerabilities daily. IBM offers 24x7x365 support for the Fabric open source code with SLA's suitable for even the most regulated production environments.

IBM Blockchain Platform Competitors

IBM Blockchain Platform Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsLinux, Hyperledger Fabric
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported CountriesWorldwide support
Supported LanguagesNode.js, Golang, JavaScript, and Java

IBM Blockchain Platform Downloadables

Frequently Asked Questions

Corda, Oracle Blockchain Cloud, and Azure Blockchain Service are common alternatives for IBM Blockchain Platform.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 9.4.

The most common users of IBM Blockchain Platform are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).

IBM Blockchain Platform Customer Size Distribution

Consumers0%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)30%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)30%
Enterprises (more than 500 employees)40%
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(46)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-17 of 17)
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Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are using IBM Blockchain Platfrom as part of our clearing solution.

This is a solution meant for serving TELCO operators in clearing their roaming traffic using a new mandated specification called Billing & charging evolution.

Built-in features of blockchain technology like Provenance, Distributed ledger, immutability of transactions & security has made us to choose blockchain technology as part of solution.
  • Immutability - Transactions once made are there forever.
  • Distributed ledger - Allows customers to maintain their own copy of ledger by joining their node onto a blockchain network.
  • Security - Help secure sensitive data, users and devices can be authenticated using the public and private keys.
  • Provenance - Transactional history. Allows seamless dispute resolution.
  • More promotion towards hybrid cloud or private cloud could attract customers to host/maintain the blockchain networks with in their "own trusted" infrastructure.
  • Building prototypes on IBM Blockchain Platform and exporting importing them onto a private/hybrid cloud would be really great feature.
  • Both of the above features has their own CONs as it will lose the easy maintenance/upgrade of their blockchain networks more challenging. But not all customers can afford IBM Blockchain Platform costs and hence there must be a easy way of allowing them to setup the blockchain networks of their choice.
In my personal opinion, IBM Blockchain Platform is an off-the-shelf ready blockchain service offering. Customers can focus on building their solution rather than understanding the nitty-gritty of blockchain network setup, implementation & maintenance. Gives the advantage of Time to market.

With IBM Blockchain Platform customers could potentially launch their blockchain based solutions in a very short timeframe.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are using IBM Blockchain Platform across the whole organization to sign transactions, documents, videos and any other type of documentary evidence. We are designing a solution that makes the verification process easy and understandable to the final consumers, making the data record friendly and readable
  • Rich repository of documentation
  • Amazing tools
  • Easy to understand
  • Fast to start
  • Good technical and sales support
  • Does not have a free trial
  • Some general error messages in extension of VS Code
This is a very flexible solution that can be used in almost any sector. They have very good documentation and use cases to help you understand the power of the tool. The deployment is simple and there is a lot of documentation that can be reviewed before your implementation. The use cases are in different sectors, you can invite your team to review the demonstrations to better understand the scope of the solution.
December 28, 2020

Very Useful Platform

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Blockchain Platform is used to develop and manage the blockchain network of an insurance organization's solution with other companies. The main organization works as the Certificate Authority and the other companies make everyday transactions.
IBM Blockchain Platform is used to manage and change the chain code, review the peers and the peer's configuration, manage the channel, track the transactions that are made, etc.
  • The UI is quite intuitive and easy to learn how to use
  • Peer and chain code management is very useful and easy to understand
  • Both the VS Code extension and IBM Blockchain Platform work pretty well and complement each other
  • Sometimes when I try to instantiate a chain code, it won't let me and the error messages aren't clear so I can't work on a solution
  • When a peer is not working, it's hard to know why just from the console
It's a really useful platform, specially if you're learning Blockchain and how to create a network, how it works, etc. Using it with the VS Code IBM Blockchain extension can also help you learn a lot.
Jerzy Giersz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use the IBM Blockchain Platform to offer the best secure and reliable solutions to our customers. The sectors are: financial, medical, and banking.
  • Security
  • Reliability
  • Stability
  • Efficiency
  • Cost optimization
  • Starting and shutting down IBM Blockchain Platform--make it easier and more user friendly
There is still something to improve, like efficiency. The security and zones are really well implemented and allow us to offer customer-tailored solutions.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are a startup with a focus on developing next generation applications using enterprise blockchain. We use IBM Blockchain Platform for all blockchain-related development and offer solutions to our clients that are backed by IBP. We are addressing two business problems 1) we are simplifying how covid test results can be provided by the users/patient to the employers or business for easy and secure access and 2) we are working to improve traceability in the fashion & apparel supply chain.
  • IBM Blockchain Platform simplifies the whole process of deploying Hyperledger Fabric to business applications. Once you have understood the concepts of Hyperledger Fabric, IBM Blockchain Platform makes it straightforward in terms of deployment. The UIs are very intuitive and setting up the desired network is a matter of minutes.
  • Also, IBM Blockchain Platform maintains a very rich repository of documentation, which makes it easier for first-timers to get going. All of our developers were getting into blockchain for the first time, however, we found it very easy to follow the documentation to get started and then build our application taking cues from the documentation or the blogs.
  • IBM Blockchain Platform makes it easy to scale up the solution as network grows, a very important aspect to take the PoCs to production environment.
  • We did observe some idiosyncratic errors at times, those are difficult to reproduce. However, we have logged them as issues and have been resolved from IBM's side.
  • IBM Blockchain Platform Extension in VS Code provides very general error messages, which doesn't provide much insight. So, at times, it becomes difficult to identify the actual issue and resolve it.
  • Some of the the more nuanced but important topics such as Private Data Collection has fewer examples. We understand that most beginners may not be interested in them but when we take the solution to actual businesses, privacy concerns are paramount and these advances concepts come up in implementation.
IBM Blockchain Platform is very well suited for quick PoCs and deployment. We have used the platform for developing applications in two separate industries and things worked out well.

However, if you are working under a tight budget or the client is expecting a cost comparable to normal cloud platforms, then it may become hard to deliver that with IBM Blockchain Platform. It is a bit expensive for sure.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use IBM Blockchain Platform to develop students' projects for learning purposes. Students analyze the potential of Blockchain technology in several fields, like industry, legal, finance, commerce, [and] social relationships, and study its economic, social, and behavioral impact on people, procedures, and society. Then, they implement several uses cases using IBM Cloud and IBM Blockchain Platform and create a web app to show the implementation of this technology and several transactions.
  • Use of Hyperledger Fabric.
  • Integration with Web App Development.
  • Integrated Dashboard.
  • Clarifying concepts about contracts, Certificate Associations and other components.
  • Providing detailed information when an error occurs.
IBM Blockchain Platform is well suited for scenarios where you need secure transactions, like in logistics, finance, legal agreements. Especially I think is well-suited for smart contracts between devices under the IBM IoT platform, and using Watson AI for predicting future scenarios. In this case, an end-to-end powerful platform can be created from sensor data to business insight.
October 19, 2020

good value

Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Blockchain Platform is helpful for maintaining and securing important and classified information to ensure everything is not only tracked but also managed safely. This platform is important for securing personnel files, medical files, and other sources of information that are often updated, transferred, or need to be tracked. The system is the best out there for what it does.
  • Managing edits.
  • Tracking changes.
  • Tracing originals.
  • Difficult to use.
  • Strong learning curve.
  • Slow to update.
Best used in commercial or logistics applications where you need to create a historical record of point of origin and identify points of transfer along the way. There are also benefits to scenarios where you want to setup automatic milestone activities such as invoicing or reporting when new information is provided.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Currently, it's being used as the backbone infrastructure for a dApp healthcare solution startup. Our application will store a patient's EHR (electronic health records) while giving the patient full control over who can access it at any given time (doctors, hospitals, labs, etc). This way, the patient can easily access their EHRs through an app and can even transfer EHRs between hospitals if needed.
  • Automated deployment and easy startup
  • Drastically reduces barrier to entry and dev time for those starting in Blockchain
  • Very clean UI, easy to manage the network
  • Free tiers are a blessing, but beyond that it can get very expensive very quickly (needs a starter package for startups with little money).
  • More live call/chat IBM support
The IBM Blockchain Platform overall is a very robust solution and serves as a good entry-point for medium-sized companies if they are interested in Blockchain. A starter/cheaper pricing model is desperately needed though for startups who are testing their MVP or conducting a pilot.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are in the insurance industry, so we are doing a lot of contracts. With digitalization, we were finding ways to not use paper but, in the past, there was an issue of trust with regard to sourcing. With the introduction of blockchain, we found the answer to that concern because blockchain can trace changes. Hence we implemented this to solve issues for our partners who we have to sign contracts with.
  • Ready-made, as needed features are available to use, so we can focus on the functionality and leave the rest up to IBM.
  • Stable, as it is cloud-based and IBM takes care of the infrastructure
  • Future, we were using open source at first, but after less than a year, it was no longer an option. But we can trust IBM will continue to support blockchain as a technology partner.
  • Price, as it may a bit expensive to use
  • Local support, as IBM always uses global support where it is hard to get.
IBM Blockchain Platform is easy to start with in order to do a POC, and along with other IBM products, it provides one-stop services. However, to live with it, pricing and ROI would need to be big considerations as the cost is a bit high compared to building your own from open source with the same framework. In return, you get the IBM guarantee.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Blockchain Platform was used in a proof-of-concept project to demonstrate cases to prevent insurance fraud. A common ledger created and accessed by multiple organizations where they can share selective data with each other. This bridge was used for communicating encrypted client details to prevent fraud.
  • Good compatibly with vscode
  • Remove blockchain maintenance overheard
  • Great documentation provided
  • Easy web console
  • Dev env plan
  • Basic plan to include free tier
  • More chat support for this platform
IBM Blockchain Platform is more suitable for enterprise users who don't want to maintain their own custom blockchain infrastructure.
Hasnaeen Ferdous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
In NuArca we are using IBM Blockchain Platform to solve real problems. We have several products based on blockchain. We used this across the projects and departments. We are solving several business problems with it. For example, we've built a voting solution, certificate solution, and an asset distribution solution. We are partnering with several US companies to provide these solutions to them.
  • This is a well managed private chain so, best in providing solutions to private organizations.
  • For an organization that manages a large amount of data, IBM Blockchain Platform is highly recommended.
  • Security-wise it's well designed to work with several organizations and consortia.
  • IBM Blockchain Platform dashboard can be better and fast.
  • Feature-wise many advanced features can be added for better management of IBM Blockchain Platform.
  • The certificate is difficult to handle and not auto-renewed when it's expired. It's a really difficult process to renew it.
This is a huge platform. This whole platform can be managed inside the Kubernetes by themselves but for production-level support and throughput, it's strongly recommended to use IBM Blockchain Platform. There are some pros and cons, but they are improving. So, I think if an organization needs a private blockchain platform, then this is recommended.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use IBM Blockchain Platform in a loyalty program that the customer can earn points with and redeem for different prizes. We provide users with a user-friendly platform that allows them to check the status of their points.
  • User friendly.
  • High availability.
  • Easy to use.
  • Sometimes the administration page is unstable.
  • We had to migrate quickly from v1 to v2.
  • We almost lost the platform due to other priorities.
For non-transactional applications, we recommend using IBM Blockchain Platform in the cloud. When you manage a high amount of transactions per minute, it's not recommended. We depend a lot on the internet so sometimes it's unstable and it's better to use another approach that can provide better performance to your applications.
September 08, 2020

IBM Blockchain in Action

Jay Fallah | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use the IBM Blockchain Platform for security, privacy and data-integrity when it comes to collaborating on digital assets. A use case would be for the negotiable trade finance instruments allowing consensus in trust between parties. Other use cases that we are involved with are similar. The business requirement for siloed parties to collaborate securely and adhere to the GDPR privacy regulation and compliance while creating trust and data-integrity in the digital asset that is being collaborated on.
  • Private blockchain.
  • Hierarchical permission levels that are realistic when it comes to businesses.
  • Ability to write code using easy to use frameworks and tools.
  • Decentralized and distributed implementation.
  • Delimitation of interactions and metering.
  • Moving to less verbose more modern safe languages such as Kotlin, Rust, Swift, etc.
Well suited when the user and people who are interacting with the system are well known in advance. Typically a business with defined processes and a highly integrated vertical comes to mind. Much less so when it comes to doing all business planning with IBM Blockchain Platform. IBM Blockchain Platform, same as any other tool in the tool chest, has its place and use and could be abused.
Karen Kilroy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
IBM Blockchain Platform is being used in Casey, our soon-to-be-released COVID-19 case management system. Casey uses IBM Blockchain Platform to manage and deploy our Hyperledger Fabric applications. IBM Blockchain Platform helps us to be confident that we are always using best practices in our development journey.
  • We need to create organizations, channels, and nodes dynamically through code. IBM Blockchain Platform makes this easier for us.
  • By using IBM Blockchain Platform, we gain the advantage of IBM's advanced tools that facilitate necessary activities such as governance.
  • Critical tasks such as installing and upgrading chain code and other related tasks are made easier by IBM Blockchain Platform.
  • IBM Blockchain Platform takes away many unknowns and helps us to plan the project with confidence.
  • More levels of pricing. I think the pricing is the number one deterrent. Also, the high cost of development and R&D causes customers to hesitate to commit to IBM Blockchain Platform.
This is entirely depending on the budget. For enterprise applications, IBM Blockchain Platform is clearly the best choice because our developers and our customers can be confident that the architecture is sound and any development or scaling challenges will be met.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It was being used by the COE department where blockchain POCs were built. We generally build all the solutions from scratch. But then we compared it to using IBM Blockchain Platform alongside manual deployment on other cloud-based Kubernetes clusters manually. Use cases range from healthcare to finance applications.
  • Automated deployment with underlying infrastructure
  • Managed services
  • Takes very little time to start
  • Helps developers not familiar with infrastructure-related concepts as well
  • Some infrastructure deployments fail at launch, could be retried to launch again
  • More free tier credits for developers to get started with the service can be given :)
  • Some live use cases can be demonstrated for ideas and inspiration
IBM Blockchain Platform is well suited for usage of Managed services, when infrastructure deployment is hard, and if costly pricing isn't a concern. It's not so good a fit for lower budget use cases, not so friendly or cheap for the developers to get started on. More features with respect to customization can be added to allow users to get closer to what they need with no additional effort.
Zachary Jones | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our company uses IBM Blockchain Platform and Hyperledger Fabric as a backbone element of our service offerings. We use Hyperledger Fabric as part of an assurance process between various parties in high-value financial transactions where fraud and malfeasance risks weigh heavily. While Hyperledger Fabric is an excellent technology on its own, the IBM Blockchain Platform allows us to develop and test code far easier.
  • Local testing environment
  • Clear deployment strategy
  • Solid support team backup
  • Improve trust and loyalty by making the mechanism of lock-in less obtuse and more transparent.
  • Stay up to date with the latest releases of the FOSS hyper ledge fabric.
  • Make multi-cloud deployments easier.
  • It's well suited to get rolling with hyper ledge fabric and prove business cases.
  • It's a great doorway to IBM's highly experienced engineering and business teams, who have active experience with prod deployments.
  • It's less appropriate once your business is running strongly in this Engineering dept. and you have in-house staff that has a great command of all of the HLF nuances.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are using IBM Blockchain Platform for the openIDL, a private, permission blockchain network serving the P&C insurance market. Our platform supports the aggregation of policy and claims data in a private, harmonized data store, that is then accessible for regulatory reporting.
  • Being open-source means that thousands of developers are upgrading the platform.
  • Excellent management tools.
  • Strong IBM technical support.
  • AAIS is part of the IBM Blockchain Advisory Board. All of our input has been addressed around provisioning and cost.
I believe the platform is well suited for all scenarios with the proper architecture and design.
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