The Belgian companies Simac ICT and SettleMint intend to cooperate more closely. The software expertise of the Leuven-based scale-up SettleMint and the integration experience of Simac are, after all, perfectly complementary. SettleMint provides a low code and blockchain-technology agnostic middleware, whereby Blockchain business solutions can be developed and implemented much quicker. Simac, for its part, provides the technical expertise in order to successfully integrate diverse applications and technologies.
The blockchain market is on the cusp of explosive growth. More and more companies are trialing this new technology and looking at how they can make their internal and external processes more efficient and more transparent. The dearth of expertise and of suitably trained blockchain-developers is currently preventing a further breakthrough in blockchain. That’s why SettleMint has developed the middleware ‘Mint’, which ‘programs away’ the complexity of blockchain technology into easy-to-use software components, like APIs. “Blockchain-developers are scarce and expensive,” says Matthew Van Niekerk, CEO at SettleMint. “With our software, a web developer can start working immediately, without needing to learn a new programming language. Companies needn’t fret – thanks to us – about complex blockchain technology.
“Using middleware makes blockchain projects much less disruptive to a company’s existing apps,” confirms Kristof Versluys, Cross Domain Architect at Simac. “Nothing needs changing in the apps that want to send data to a blockchain. That’s what really sets SettleMint apart from other companies in the same market.” The fact that SettleMint – as a local, Belgian company – operates at the cutting-edge of technology also endears it to Simac.
SettleMint wants to keep its number of joint-venture partners to a minimum. Complementarity is top of our wishlist,” said Van Niekerk, “and knowledge of other technologies, e.g. the Internet of Things in Simac’s case.” SettleMint, itself, does not wish to become a system integrator (SI); the company focuses solely on its software. “Integration, in some cases, can be very extensive. The data flow can encompass sensors, datacenters, business and industrial processes, front-end development … Teaming up with SIs like Simac is then self-evident.” Simac’s flexibility and the speed at which they react when an opportunity arises are greatly appreciated by SettleMint. “Nor is Simac afraid to tackle a project that lies outside its comfort zone. It’s also prepared to invest in extra expertise.”
Simac is one of the few Belgian companies that has Certified Blockchain Solution Architects at its back, and can act in various phases of a blockchain project. “Via workshops we let organizations think about the apps that could be useful to them, and we then help them with the practical implementation of SettleMint’s middleware,” says Johan Diels, director at Simac. “Also, when an implementation goes live, we continue to lend technical support.” In order to convince more people of how a combination of IoT and blockchain makes a supply chain more efficient and more transparent, Simac has developed an interactive demo that users can fully personalize, to suit their own requirements. This demo is available at the Simac website.
To highlight the cooperation, Simac and SettleMint are sharing a stand at the IOT World Congress in Barcelona (October 29-31). Come visit them at stand number B210.
