Analysts at Juniper Research have ranked IBM the top leader for blockchain technology as more than four in 10 respondents rated Big Blue as the leader

Microsoft took second place and Accenture took the third spot.

Nearly 400 company founders, executives, managers and IT leaders responded to Juniper’s Blockchain Enterprise Survey. Among enterprises either actively considering, or in the process of deploying blockchain technology, more than 43 percent ranked IBM first -– more than twice the proportion of survey takers who selected Microsoft, which was selected as No.1 by 20 percent of survey respondents.

[Also: Why blockchain could transform the very nature of EHRs]

As Jupiter researchers see it, the survey results reflect IBM’s high-profile research and development engagement with initiatives such as Hyperledger and its extensive list of blockchain clients across key vertical markets and use cases.

Blockchain continues to create plenty of buzz in the healthcare sector.

Two earlier studies, one from IBM, the other from Deloitte, showed that 16 percent of payer and provider executives planned to have commercial blockchain application at scale in 2017.

[Also: Blockchain's potential use cases for healthcare: hype or reality?]

The Jupiter survey respondents who stated their investment in blockchain was at 67 percent had invested more than $100,000 by the end of 2016. Ninety-one percent of the survey takers confirmed they would be spending at least this amount in 2017. The study suggested most initial investments had delivered results that were encouraging for companies to pursue more extensive trials and/or integrations.

Juniper urged companies to focus on private blockchains for commercial deployments, rather than use public chains such as Bitcoin, arguing that most corporate applications would require the capability to restrict access to permissioned users, while companies would also need to have a degree of control over the development of the blockchain on which their systems have become dependent.

“Even if companies conduct initial testing using a public blockchain, in most cases the shortcomings of these chains should disqualify them from many use cases, including financial settlement, public sector deployments, logistics and land registry,” research author Windsor Holden, who head forecasting and consultancy at Juniper Research, said in a statement.

Twitter: @Bernie_HITN
Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com