The Information Technology (IT) industry is set for a seismic shake up next spring from serial tech-disruptors Multiven.
With an established pedigree for innovation, Multiven, which was founded by technology visionary Peter Alfred-Adekeye, is poised to do it again with a significant move into blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
In February 2019, the company will launch the Multiven Open Marketplace (MOM), the world’s first blockchain-based, peer-to-peer marketplace for new, pre-owned and re-cycled computer and internet network hardware, software and services.
The MOM is set to end the $3 trillion monopoly on IT and communications hardware and software by developing a marketplace that will cut out middlemen, high fees and play a major role in slashing costs for businesses.
This is evidently needed because in 2016, UK and US businesses wasted more than $34 billion on unused or under-used software, while the average large enterprise wasted $7.40 million, according to an insight by TechRepublic.
Furthermore, IT wastage, be it software or hardware, is a major global issue not just because of the huge costs but also the ecological damage caused, as electronic goods such as used laptops, mobile phones and desktops are the fastest growing e-waste problem in the world according to a study by the United Nations University, which revealed 43 million tons of waste was generated in 2016.
The MOM will be a game-changer because it will curb waste and reduce business costs as it aims to have the equivalent impact that Amazon or Uber have had in the e-commerce and transportation sectors.
“We want to deliver something that adds value to the world and helps more people achieve their ambitions without being slowed down by expensive IT hurdles,” said Alfred-Adekeye.
“We are combining the power of blockchain and the total clarity and security it brings with cryptocurrencies and smart contracts, to deliver a revolutionary way to do business.
“By delivering significant cost savings, along with improved efficiencies, such as instant net transaction payments, thus eliminating accounts receivable and invoicing, it will benefit companies of all sizes and individuals across the world. It will also have a major impact on green issues with less landfill and more items recycled.
“Our platform has already attracted interest from an exciting client list including IBM, AT&T, Verizon, Atos and SNCF. We expect MOM to go from strength to strength once it goes live, following our ICO in the spring of next year.”
Multiven has set up a dedicated office in Paris to manage the MOM, while it has a small, but significant, team of advisors guiding and influencing the project alongside Alfred-Adekeye and the Multiven staff. The advisors are Paul Scott, a fintech specialist and EMEA head at Blockchain Advisory Council; Jillian Godsil, crypto-journalist and one of the most influential women in blockchain and US-based Sean Brizendine, a Bitcoin and blockchain veteran.
Alfred-Adekeye has a talent for building teams and seeing the bigger picture. It is what defines Multiven and why it has been a leading player in the tech and IT market for more than a decade.
He and Multiven have already made an impact in revolutionising the IT industry, driven by Alfred-Adekeye’s determination to dismantle tech giant Cisco’s monopoly of the multi-billion-dollar internet network software maintenance services market. His legal battle with Cisco, which he won, is pivotal to Multiven’s success.
As a consequence of that legal victory, Multiven became the first, and still the only company in the world, to provide independent and decentralised software integrity maintenance and cyber-defence services for all the blockchain nodes and hardware that make up the world’s internet networks.
Multiven’s evolution also includes the 2007 creation of Pingsta, a decentralised collaborative platform, where 1,200 of the world’s leading internet experts, security researchers and cryptographers located across 55 countries, collaborate to share their knowledge and help make the internet work better and safer.
Amongst those early Pingsta experts was the late Hal Finney, a leading cryptographer, who was at the advent of cryptocurrencies and worked with Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Finney also has the distinction of being the recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction.
Having the legendary Finney as part of the Multiven story, is an example of the company’s pioneering characteristics.
This is exemplified not just by the MOM and the development of Pingsta but also through another of its subsidiaries – mySolvr – an artificial intelligence engine that has been gleaning knowledge from Pingsta’s experts over the past 10 years, with the long-term goal of using it to predictively self-heal the internet, without human-intervention.
Multiven has also recently developed Multiven B-Fence, an early-warning threat alert system and cyber-defence platform that protects Bitcoin nodes and the routers that connect them to other nodes, against cyberattacks.
