Software Giant SAP Joins Open-Source Hyperledger Blockchain Consortium as Premium Member

The Hyperledger Project, a cross-industry collaborative led by the Linux Foundation has announced the addition of enterprise software giant SAP as a premier member of the consortium.

Notably, Hyperledger’s announcement reveals SAP’s plans to implement blockchain solutions in “existing and new business scenarios for enterprises”. SAP has over 80,000 employees across 130 countries, counting nearly 90% of the Forbes Global 2000 list of companies as its clients.

With over 15,000 partner companies, the announcement also confirms that SAP will “implement blockchain across its portfolio”.

Juergen Mueller, chief innovation officer at SAP, stated:

We believe blockchain is a transformative technology for enterprise businesses. We are committed to advancing its adoption via the creation of new standards, use cases, platforms and open applications.

SAP joins the Hyperledger consortium, of which there are currently over 100 members, soon after American Express and Mercedes Benz-maker Daimler Chrysler, both of whom are also premium members.

Premium membership comes with a $250,000 annual fee, wherein members will be able to directly contribute to the development process of creating open-source enterprise blockchains. SAP’s premium membership will also see Dominik Heere, vice president of innovation engineering at SAP’s Innovation Center Network to represent the company on the consortium’s governing board.

Brian Behlendorf, executive director of Hyperledger underlined the importance of “an enterprise software and cloud leader like SAP’ joining the consortium.

He stated:

The diversity of our members is a real strength, as we look to advance open blockchain technology POCs, pilots and production deployments across many industries this year.

The consortium’s globally diverse membership points to a notable interest in mainland China, which constitutes to over 25% of Hyperledger’s members. Paying heed to the rise in Chinese members, the project established the ‘Technical Working Group China’, earlier this year, to foster relationships between the global members and local technical teams in China.

Featured image from Shutterstock.