BlackBerry Reveals Blockchain Platform for Healthcare
BlackBerry, that software company that once used to make a line of mobile phones that dominated the smartphone market, announced that it was launching a new Blockchain platform focused on the healthcare industry.
Ultra-Secure Global Ecosystem
BlackBerry, in its press release, stated that it would be using its Network Operation Center (NOC), which is carrier grade, to support the new Blockchain platform.
This platform will be developed by the biotechnology incubating company ONEBIO and will be used specifically to safely store medical data. This data can be input by patients, laboratories and even biometric devices that are powered by the Internet of Things.
Once input, this data would then be completely anonymized so that it could be shared with medical researchers to better the healthcare system. The platform would be used on BlackBerry’s NOC, which would create an “ultra-secure global ecosystem”.
BlackBerry’s Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman, John Chen stated that the company was applying its expertise in data privacy, network communication as well as security to one of the greatest challenges that the healthcare industry was currently facing – using healthcare data to improve patients’ outcomes securely while ensuring complete data privacy.
BlackBerry’s First Client
The software company already has its first client to test its new product – the Global Commission, an organization whose focus is on ending the diagnostic quest that children with rare diseases have to go through.
The Global Commission’s tech pilots will explore how BlackBerry’s new Blockchain solution could provide them with real-time analyses that is actionable, so that the Commission can shorten the time it takes to reach a diagnosis.
This pilot will be co-chaired by Shire, which is the world’s leading biotechnology firm that is focused on finding cures for rare diseases.
A New Start for BlackBerry
At one time, BlackBerry controlled more than 50% of the worldwide smartphone market, however, by 2016, that market share had plunged to less than 1%. This doesn’t mean that the company had completely left the smartphone segment. The company is planning to launch its newest smartphone on October 10 this year.
However, the company is now looking at ways to enter other markets, and this new Blockchain initiative in the healthcare sectors that that new start.
BlackBerry also has other offerings in the healthcare market – a real-time operating system to further develop robotic surgical instruments, monitoring systems for patients as well as several other safety-critical products that are awaiting regulatory approval.