Blockcast.cc Interview Kenny Koh, BlocBox: “Blockchain is truly the future”

Blockcast.cc: Morning Kenny. Can you give our readers a introduction of yourself?

Kenny: Thanks Joann for the timing. My name is Kenny Koh, I have 17 years of experience in ship navigation and satellite communication systems, both technical and commercial experience in maritime-related equipment. I commenced my maritime career as an engineer installing navigation systems on ships in 2001 and subsequently moved to commercial sales in 2002.  In June 2004, I started my own company, ‘Devor Technologies’, focusing on satellite systems connectivity and turnkey data solutions. With a start-up capital of US$15,000, I have increased the revenue from US$300,000 to US$5.2mil in the year 2008 and in 2009, a majority stake of Devor Technologies was acquired by French IEC Telecom.

Blockcast: How did you get into the Blockchain Space?

Kenny: I have always been interested in technology and digitalisation. Coming from a very traditional industry like the maritime space, I could see the gaps in processes and operations need to be filled with technological means. I knew the industry was on the brink of a digital revolution because it was the only way forward. It was around this time that I got interested in Blockchain. Back in late 2016, during a maritime event, a panel speaker first talked about blockchain and how he felt it could contribute to revolutionising the maritime industry. Shortly after that, Bitcoin became big news and had the attention of the world and I wasn’t spared. It made me curious, so I began self-learning and started investing in cryptos myself. It took me a few months to truly understand what Blockchain was all about and how it could disrupt present processes and more-so, how it was not just about cryptocurrencies.

Blockcast.cc: What is the name of your project? Please share with us your objectives, overall implementation and goals for the project.

Kenny: Leveraging on the unique benefits of blockchain, we have created a product called BlocBox. We will build an immutable distributed ledger to solve various challenges such as black box data retrieval, transparency, predictions and ownership in the maritime and aviation industries. By taking IOT data from ship systems and transmitting it via satellite to the BlocBox Blockchain, ship operations can be optimised. With this as the backbone of the BlocBox proprietary protocol, an ecosystem within the maritime supply chain is being created that includes all aspects – from the ship crew entertainment system to the supply of ships’ provisions to port berth booking.

BlocBox will also be integrating the BlocBox Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm within the solution. The AI algorithm will be trained to first pick up and transcribe audio recordings from vessels and aircraft, identify the stress levels in tone and language of crew members as part of data collection and subsequently, store these audio recordings onto a private side chain. With consecutive trainings, the voice analytics within the BlocBox algorithm will be able to pick up specific keywords for emergencies. This, coupled with the ability to read stress levels identified in the tone of voice, will trigger a warning to be issued to stakeholders involved once they exceed a pre-defined threshold.

Blockcast.cc:  How will the project help non-Blockchain users understand the overarching tech behind blockchain?

Kenny: This is the beauty of the BlocBox solution, it is not difficult to comprehend – through it, crucial data (such as vessel or plane black box data) is stored in the blockchain. This data is of utmost importance for accident investigations, insurance claims and future-learning. Due to the decentralised nature of blockchain technology, the data is tamper-proof and immutable as it will be recorded across multiple nodes. BlocBox adopts a hybridised blockchain using Hyperledger and a modified BigchainDB. The overarching blockchain architecture is comprised of one public main chain and a series of private side chains.

Blockcast.cc: What are your views on the current blockchain and crypto market?

Kenny: As seen recently in the market, the world’s first cryptocurrency BTC is slowly picking up from a very tensed and down sliding trend since end 2017.  Adoption is the key in this, and it has been evident that giant corporations are paving ways and entering into the blockchain ecosystem. Samsung has recently launched Nexledger while Nasdaq will launch Bitcoin Futures this year.  Despite the fact that cryptocurrencies are not in the most ideal stability right now, big companies are still focusing on blockchain-based product developments. Both Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are here to stay. We are in a period where the masses are still figuring the technology.

Blockcast.cc:  Lastly, can you share a quote for readers at Blockcast.cc?

Kenny:

Blockchain technology has myriad applications and is paving the way ahead in the current digitalisation revolution we are witnessing – keep reading, learning and tracing the developments in this space because it truly is the future!

Blockcast.cc: Thanks Kenny for sharing with us.