New Trusted IoT Alliance

Cisco Tuesday unveiled the Trusted IoT Alliance, a consortium of companies including Bosch and Gemalto and others, that will look at how to develop a blockchain-enabled, trusted Internet of Things system. Blockchain technology is a decentralized ledger of all transactions across a peer-to-peer network – meaning that participants can confirm transactions without the need for a central certifying authority.

The companies aim to work together to develop and set the standard for an open-source blockchain protocol that can support IoT technology in major industries, said Anoop Nannra, Trusted IoT Alliance board member and head of the blockchain initiative at Cisco.

"We've been looking at blockchain for a while now as a potential disrupter to a number of the spaces we serve, and we want to help partners understand the potential for the technology as it continues to grow in the coming years," Nannra told CRN.

Following are five ways the Trusted IoT Alliance will work to make blockchain-enabled IoT more secure.