MORRISVILLE – IT People, which created one of the Triangle area’s first blockchain consulting teams in 2016, has launched the team as a wholly-owned subsidiary, Chainyard.
Chainyard, which currently has a staff of 45, about 19 percent in India, will likely be expanding this year and next year, said Sai Nidamarty, CEO, who is also co-founder and CEO of IT People, which was founded in 1999.
“Chainyard gives us a singularly focused blockchain consulting company,” said Nidamarty, CEO of IT People. “By combining our extensive blockchain experience and thought leadership with our delivery excellence, we’ve created a comprehensive approach for our customers and partners to accelerate their ideas from concept to production.”
Isaac Kunkel, Chainyard’s consulting services lead, tells WRAL Techwire, “Blockchain is transformational for business. It’s poised to fundamentally change the way industries operate. After delivering over a dozen blockchain projects, we’ve learned what it takes to navigate this fast-moving area. The launch of Chainyard recognizes that businesses need a focused multi-disciplinary partner to help them succeed with blockchain.”
Can solve many common business problems
The company offers blockchain education, technical workshops, architecture assessments, business systems solution design, user interface design, continuous integration and delivery pipelines, operational impact assessments, network support services, consortium building, and governance models.
Nidamarty said that IT People has worked closely with IBM and other major enterprise companies on blockchain projects.
Kunkel notes that blockchain is still often misunderstood and confused with crypto currency. “Blockchain is the technology crypto currencies leverage to trade value within those ecosystems. It allows you to securely transact business.” But it has applications to other businesses to construct trusted secure networks around property transactions, financial, supply chains, logistics, and manufacturing business transactions. “It’s not an easy solution, but there are many common business problems blockchain can solve,” he said.
Isaac Kunkel, senior vice president, consulting services, Chainyard. Copyright Chainyard.
One of the difficulties, he points out, is that a company has to enlist its partners, customers and suppliers in a blockchain network. “You have to do business with a network of people,” Kunkel said. Once accomplished, however, it can provide transformational power when multiple parties are accessing the same processes or data.
It is a more decentralized method of working than firms are used to, Nidmarty said. “Parties have to agree to work differently. Many organizations today don’t understand blockchain.” Even from an Enterprise perspective, “Lots of people are still in a learning phase. It’s going to be a year or two or longer before people really embrace it and understand its value.”
Sai Nidamarty, co-founder and CEO of IT People and Chainyard. Copyright Chainyard.
While a number of startups are entering the blockchain consulting and development field, only larger firms are likely to have the resources to develop blockchain consortiums at this point, Nidamarty said. In fact, one advantage to being in the Triangle is that IBM’s blockchain unit is based here. “We’ve worked hand-in-hand with them. IBM treats us as a partner.”
Although currently focused as a services company, Chainyard is working on building a blockchain product of its own. At present, the company is not seeking outside funding, although Nidamarty said they receive lots of calls regarding potential acquisition or funding opportunities.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity as an organization and we believe we can impact a lot of thing in the tech space,” Nidamarty said.
