WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Hard drive maker Seagate is teaming up with IBM to launch a project to help reduce global hard drive counterfeiting using blockchain technology and security technologies.
According to the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, global trade in counterfeit and pirated electronic products has reached more than $1.7 trillion in value.
The project combines IBM Blockchain Platform with Seagate's advanced 'electronic fingerprinting' and product tracking capability. A unique identifier or electronic fingerprint assigned to each product is used to verify the authenticity of a hard drive at any time during its product life cycle.
Technology vendors, service providers, and end users will be able to confirm the product's authenticity throughout a product's life on the blockchain, which provides an immutable record of events.
The IBM Blockchain platform, powered by The Linux Foundation's Hyperledger Fabric distributed ledger framework, is designed to allow network participants to append and view blockchain data based on their level of permissioning.
Seagate and IBM intend to expand the business network to include participation from supply chain partners.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX