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Credit to Author: Ken Mingis| Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2018 11:30:00 -0700<\/strong><\/p>\n If 2017 was the year many tech firms suddenly looked around and realized they needed to be part of the blockchain craze<\/a>, this<\/em> is the year companies in a variety of industries have begun actively experimenting with the distributed ledger technology.<\/p>\n Helping to make that possible \u2013 especially for firms with no experience in building out blockchain systems themselves \u2013 are IT vendors like IBM, Microsoft, HPE and Amazon Web Services. They now offer blockchain-as-a-service<\/a>.<\/p>\n This week, Oracle added its name to that list<\/a>.<\/p>\n As Computerworld<\/em> senior reporter Lucas Mearian explains: Blockchain-as-a-service lets businesses develop and launch proof-of-concept systems to test out the technology without the costs of an internal deployment. It provides a foundation upon which they can experiment with the still-nascent blockchain, and it helps them avoid having to hire highly sought-after developers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mearian also told Computerworld<\/em> Executive Editor Ken Mingis about a more unusual use for the technology: two smartphone manufacturers \u2013 HTC and Sirin \u2013 are incorporating blockchain in devices they plan to release this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n The goal: create smartphones that cryptocurrency users will want in the same way government workers used to gravitate to BlackBerrys.<\/p>\n All of which reinforces the point: blockchain is showing up in a lot of unlikely places<\/a>.<\/p>\n For an audio-only version of this episode, click play (or catch up on all earlier episodes) below. Or you can\u00a0find us on iTunes<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Pocket Casts<\/a>, where you can download each episode and listen at your leisure.<\/p>\n