MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2023 – Alitheon, the provider of FeaturePrint®, the machine-vision based solution for authentication and traceability of physical items, signed a go-to-market partnering agreement with SIMBA Chain, the builder of Blocks, an enterprise-grade platform that abstracts the complexities of blockchain development, making the innovative technology more accessible. The agreement enables Alitheon to offer its customers the ability to certify the authenticity and take ownership of digitized physical items using the blockchain-based FeaturePrint system. Similarly, SIMBA will offer its customers the ability to add to their physical items, an irrefutable authentication and tracing capability.
The combined solution provides supply chains, manufacturers and luxury retailers with a holistic solution to the authentication of physical items and the digital data that goes with them. There are several industries in which authenticating physical items generates value, namely by proving ownership and verifying attributes. For example, the authenticity and associated certifications of aircraft and automotive parts can be traced through the supply chain in real time, eliminating risks of false parts or subpar maintenance. Alternatively, luxury retailers can utilize such solutions to protect and maintain the authenticity and proof of ownership of their products across sales and resales.
Counterfeiting and gray market activity is a challenge across all industries, from aviation, automotive and pharma to luxury goods and collectibles. This impacts revenue, brand integrity and in many cases, the security, or health and safety of customers. The Alitheon SIMBA offering delivers both an irrefutable authentication of the physical item, as well as an immutable ledger where ownership and other data is stored, so that any sales, upgrades and maintenance are securely captured for the lifecycle of the actual item. The transparency and immutability that this enhanced solution delivers goes beyond any ‘certificates of authenticity’ or identifying additives that are currently used, ensuring end-to-end verification and security of both the physical and digital components of the product.
“The combination of SIMBA’s blockchain platform and Alitheon’s authentication technology is the first solution that intersects authentication and verification of the physical item, along with the certificate of verification of the purchase itself,” said Bryan Ritchie, CEO of SIMBA Chain, “Other solutions like barcodes and near field technology can be manipulated. On the flip side, storing data on the blockchain is immutable, but that still requires good faith that the physical item is indeed what the owner says it is. Such solutions only solve a fraction of the problem, and do not address possible manipulations across the lifecycle of the item, or any future upgrades, maintenance, resales, gray market sales and so on.”
“What does it mean for industry, when a company or consumer can irrefutably authenticate a product as well as its ownership and associated data?” said Roei Ganzarski, CEO of Alitheon. “It means goodbye to having to deal with counterfeits, gray market activity, theft, fraud, misidentification, human error, and a whole host of other expensive and risky problems. Welcome to the new world.”
