Telefónica Tech has partnered Fibocom Wireless and Aitos.io to integrate IoT and blockchain technologies.

The three companies have collaborated to develop a 5G blockchain IoT module that natively records information gathered by devices to blockchain networks.

By linking the Aitos Boat SDK and Telefónica Tech’s TrustOS platform, this was developed and deployed in just a couple of weeks. The combination of IoT and blockchain provides an increased transparency and an efficient way of tracing and verifying information gathered by the sensors.

Spanish firm Telefónica Tech encompasses the digital businesses of cloud, cyber security, IoT, big data and blockchain. Fibocom supplies wireless communication modules for IoT. And Shanghai-based Aitos is a technology start-up focusing on the integration of IoT and blockchain.

Blockchain is emerging as a technology that can help verify information, as well as mitigate the scalability and security issues associated with IoT.

This collaboration started with a proof of concept to integrate the software implemented by Aitos – Boat blockchain application framework SDK – with Fibocom’s 5G devices and Telefónica Tech’s TrustOS platform.

As a result, the 5G IoT blockchain integration was done in a matter of weeks, thanks to TrustOS and its identity module, TrustID, that connects with blockchain technology and enables the device to interact to the blockchain ledger directly, eliminating any type of intermediary.

IoT brings a link between the physical world and the digital world and combined with blockchain technology provides increased transparency and an efficient way of tracing and verifying any kind of information gathered by the sensors embedded in the devices.

With 5G technology’s low latency and ubiquity, IoT blockchain-backed products can record immutable evidence of what is going on surrounding the devices with zero infrastructure in real time. This can be applied to Industry 4.0 use cases such as supply chain management and manufacturing processes monitoring.

Thanks to this implementation and how TrustOS manages the authentication and access to the system, it’s possible to avoid unauthorised tampering or unexpected updates.

“The convergence of two technologies such as IoT and blockchain plus 5G connectivity is inevitable,” said Jose Luis Núñez, head of blockchain at Telefónica Tech. “As connected devices multiply, it is critical to demonstrate the trustworthiness of the information that devices exchange. Blockchain can play a relevant role to build trust in these ecosystems. This proof of concept is the first successful case where it is demonstrated that blockchain technology adds value and adds that extra layer of trust to operations. Telefónica is very excited about this collaboration with Aitos.io and Fibocom and we look forward to continue advancing and positioning ourselves with this in Industry 4.0.”

Ronnie Cohen, senior vice president at Fibocom, added: “We are glad and proud to collaborate with Telefónica and Aitos.io on introducing this cutting edge blockchain technology for the IoT. This unique synergy with Fibocom’s advanced 5G module integrated with Aitos.io Boat SDK plus TrustOS and implemented via Telefónica Tech’s 5G networks marks a new IoT era where securing the data is no longer a nice option to have, it is a must. We are ready to support Telefónica and Aitos.io with enabling innovative blockchain via its various wireless modules ranging from 4G – NB, Cat-M, Cat-1 etc – all the way to 5G.”

And Leo Lin, CEO of Aitos.io, said: “We are proud to cooperate with Telefónica Tech and Fibocom to promote the concept of blockchain IoT module globally using our Boat blockchain application framework embedded into Fibocom’s 5G IoT module to easily access Telefónica’s TrustOS blockchain network and TrustID decentralised identity service. This PoC builds upon the successes of integrating the IoT with the blockchain to prove monetised value with data ownership, integrity and provenance. We are looking forward to expanded cooperation with Telefónica and Fibocom to enable more and more IoT devices with strong cryptographically verifiable decentralised identity of their origin on the blockchain, which will build in great value for trust and identity in broadening industrial IoT sectors for Industry 4.0.”

Fibocom is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, and has R&D centres in Shenzhen and Xi’an. It has more than 30 subsidiaries and regional operation centres in China, Americas, Emea and Asia Pacific regions. More than 1000 global employees provide products and services in more than 100 countries and regions.