Phil Zamani is the CEO of the board at BLOCKO, the Samsung-backed operating system for enterprises.

Zamani is an open-source veteran that has led leading open-source enterprise-IT firms like Red Hat for over twenty years. He has directed teams at Deutsche Telekom, VMWare, and many more. He brings an understanding of what it takes for open-source technology and 20 years of open source and cloud business experience and applies it now to BLOCKO.

BLOCKO is implementing a blockchain solution for land registry in South Korea. The system will enable financial bodies to use government data by sharing it on a ledger across Jeju Province.

Since October 2018, major Korean Banks have participated in the initiative, including Shinhan Financial Group, Korea Exchange Bank, and Korea Development Bank. Participants conducted all real estate transactions using the blockchain.

Of the six blockchain projects conducted throughout Korea, BLOCKO’s scored highest at 92.2%, the highest ever under modern Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) standards. The data indicated that a full-scale implementation could help reduce the $115 million lost each year between printing paper for transactions and real estate transaction fraud.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: How did you get started in blockchain?

PHIL ZAMANI: Late into 2017, I recieved a call from someone I’d worked with over my career. First asking to clarify that I have indeed been involved in building open-source or SaaS businesses in the past, he handed the phone over to someone else: Won Beom-Kim, the CEO of BLOCKO, one of the only companies to have built full-scale and in-production blockchain use cases with large clients in Korea.

The company is backed by giants like Samsung and POSCO and has clients of similar status. Won was looking for someone to work as a CEO at the AERGO Organization. We met up, and instantly clicked; he knew I was the right person for the job. Having built open-source businesses for over 20 years working on all sorts of new and upcoming technologies, I could tell that blockchain would be the next open-source technological revolution.

Reading about blockchain for the first time, I could tell it would have a similar upbringing to that which Linux had 20 years ago and which I directly participated in. Linux was driven forward by pragmatic open-source businesses like Red Hat, and I knew blockchain would be driven forward likewise by companies like BLOCKO. We began expanding my understanding of blockchain (which I’d just found out about recently) and in parallel planning out our business plan for BLOCKO’s new product, AERGO. It has now been over a year and we’ve made quite a bit of progress.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: What are the perceptions of blockchain technology in Korea?

PHIL ZAMANI: South Korea is more technologically advanced and innovative than other countries. The perception is that blockchain will change the landscape in IT and constant media coverage about large companies implementing the technology fuels this realization.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: Why does the South Korean government favor blockchain over crypto?

PHIL ZAMANI: Simple: A government controls its people as long as it controls its money supply. Cryptocurrency poses an existential threat to governments and central banks due to its permissionless and open nature. However, governments also realize that blockchain can help reduce costs around paperwork and administration (as our real estate project is doing) and thus are keen to implement it where it fits.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: What needs to be done to ensure mainstream adoption of blockchain technology?

PHIL ZAMANI: Governments need to take a more clear stance on use of blockchain in B2B settings and also clarify its stance on the use of public ledgers. They may also need to reduce regulation in the financial services sector, which act as a huge barrier to making implementations.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: Who are the biggest beneficiaries of your blockchain solution and why?

PHIL ZAMANI: The biggest beneficiaries are any companies that want to share data with third-parties and currently face the ‘silo effect’ when trying to do so, securely. Any company that currently cannot use the data of other organizations securely due to a lack of infrastructure, where currently companies have to use ancient methods like emails or faxes. Our blockchain solution lets companies leverage a hybrid 2-layer architecture that uses a public chain for secure settlement, allowing companies to share data with each other securely. This will create new revenue streams, business models, and cost reductions for all kinds of organizations.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: How do you differ from your competitors?

PHIL ZAMANI: We provide a full-stack solution that covers nearly every inch of what customers need. Our solution provides exceptional:

• Adaptability (interoperability with other systems, integratability with legacy infrastructure, ease-of-use for developers, fast implementations, proven technology that has been battle-tested for four years, GDPR compliance)
• Market Exposure (we’ve got a real network of clients and businesses that use our technology, and our standardized ecosystem exposes newcomers to that – this is an immense value proposition for a solution whose use case is collaborating with third parties)
• Low Cost (our solution allows anyone to deploy distributed cloud applications at a low cost

BLOCK TRIBUNE: What are your plans for future developments?

PHIL ZAMANI: We intend to launch our network by Q2 of 2019 and intend to have our full product (the AERGO Hub, Horde, and Marketplace) out by the end of the year.