Ericsson’s Giovanni Franzese: ‘Start from the baseline, which is blockchain’

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The IEEE Future Networks World Forum 2022 in Montreal was a huge success. Several personalities in the IPv6 and blockchain world were present, and among them was Giovanni Franzese, the head of enterprise blockchain execution at Ericsson.

During his interview with CoinGeek Backstage, Franzese shared some of the different use cases of blockchain, their initiative using the technology, and the products they are launching.

Ericsson’s enterprise head said the firm is using three solutions: one that addresses the main core basis for Ericsson, which they dubbed as “Ericsson Customer Acceptance Process”; another called “Letter Credit,” which they use to address their internal efficiency; and lastly, their intercompany invoicing process, that specifically utilizes blockchain for their internal business processes.

“Another one which I can share with you is to extend the use of blockchain with our suppliers and the factories in order to better control the hardware. We have many other things, but you need to wait a little bit before I can disclose some more. We have many things boiling,” Franzese said.

Franzese also shared how they started using blockchain three years ago as an innovation project to see if the technology is “mature enough to be used.”

“Blockchain is extremely tricky. You need to really make the blockchain stuff in the right way,” he said. “If you want to make a successful application, then you need to do other things on top of blockchain.”

As for choosing the right kind of blockchain, Franzese has this to say:

“If you remember the big corporates, they first started with the private cloud, and then when we got the confidence and with the technology, then we moved to the public. For blockchain, the pattern is exactly the same. So we start [with] the big corporates, and to be honest, there aren’t so many at the moment.”

“I have to say Ericsson is the most advanced one using private blockchain platforms. And then, of course, the longer-term vision is to embrace the public. This will take a little bit of time, but the pattern is exactly the way the cloud evolved during the year. If you think about it.”

In closing, Franzese reminded the audience that blockchain is the future.

“Blockchain is feasible, and it will emerge strong. It’s a great platform bringing a lot of value. And if you want to develop a successful application, you need to start from the baseline, which is blockchain. But then you need to pay attention on the real part of the application,” he said.

Watch: IEEE Future Networks World Forum highlights