IBM Wins $740M Contract for Blockchain, Tech Services to Australian Govt

IBM will implement blockchain and automation technologies in Australian government agencies under a $740 million contract.

US tech giant IBM has signed a A$1 billion ($740 million) agreement with the Australian government to provide blockchain related technological support over the next five years.

Harriet Green, head of IBM Asia Pacific, told Bloomberg that under the contract, the US company will offer services related to blockchain and automation to federal departments such as home affairs and defense. She added that the implementation of emerging technologies would support the employment.

IBM will also come up with updated platforms to securely store citizens data. The Australian government estimated that the partnership would result in A$100 million in savings to taxpayers.

This is not the first negotiation between IBM and the Australian government. One of their earlier projects didn’t work quite well as in 2016, the US company agreed to pay over А$30 million in compensations for failing to launch Australia’s first online national census. The Bureau of Statistics went offline after being hit by four distributed denial of service attacks.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull commented then on the fail:

“I have to say — and I'm not trying to protect anyone here at all — but overwhelmingly the failure was IBM's and they have acknowledged that, they have paid up and they should have.”

However, stakes are higher for the current deal as it is more extensive and concerns multiple technological aspects. Under the contract, IBM and Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency will manage a joint program that will operate with innovative technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum computers. This will help the county achieve its goal “to become one of the top-three digital governments in the world by 2025”.