Intro/Outro (00:01):

Welcome to Digital Transformers, the show that connects you with what you need to build, manage, and operate your digital supply chain. Join your host in a timely discussion on new and future business models with industry leading executives. The show will reveal global customer expectations, real world deployment challenges, and the value of advanced business technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and robotic process engineering. And now we bring you digital transformers.

Kevin L. Jackson (00:32):

Hello everyone. This is Kevin L. Jackson, and welcome to Digital Transformers on Supply Chain. Now, today’s show is sponsored by Total Network Services. TNS is an ecosystem of apps and technologies specifically designed to enable the new blockchain economy. So before we get started though, I have a few questions for you in the audience to consider. So, how important are smartphone in your everyday life? Do you use a voice controlled virtual assistant, something like Alexa or Siri, or a Google Assistant in your everyday life, uh, in your home or in your office? Do you ever think about how many video cameras are looking at you right now? Do you know all of the cameras that are around you? How about the one that’s right there in front of you on your computer or laptop? Your answers to these questions will tell you how the I o T or the internet of things are affecting you right now. They will also help you focus on today’s three topics of security, compliance, and privacy across the telecommunications Network network. So on today’s show from TSG Global, we have Noah Alco, the TSG founder and ceo. We have Shane Unread, the Executive Vice President for business development and product management. And from total network services, we are pleased to have Jim Johnson, tns Business Development Manager. Thank you gentlemen for being on the show.

Noah Rafalko (02:35):

Thank you. Thanks for inviting us, Kevin.

Kevin L. Jackson (02:38):

Oh, yes, my pleasure. So, so to get started, Noah, where are you physically in this world? And, and please tell us a little about TSG Global.

Noah Rafalko (02:51):

Okay, thank you, Kevin. Uh, my name is Noah Belco, and currently I am located just south of Boston, Massachusetts, the sports capital of the world. <laugh>, let everyone know

Jim Johnston (03:01):

Go. Yankees,

Noah Rafalko (03:02):

<laugh>.

Jim Johnston (03:03):

Ok. Wow. Yankees, <laugh>.

Noah Rafalko (03:07):

Haven’t, haven’t won anything quite in a bit, but, We’ll, we’ll, uh, so, uh, founded TSG a long time ago in 2006 as a consulting company, and really just tried to address the issues that our clients brought to us, which were generally around process and navigating this very, very, uh, ever changing world of telecommunications in all of its technology that came along with it, whether it was the internet or voiceover IP that went over it, where now SMS that actually goes over it and soon to be, uh, information over blockchain. So, very happy to be here, and thank you for having us.

Kevin L. Jackson (03:47):

No, thank you very much. This has an exciting discussion. And Shane, um, how about you? Are you in Boston also? Are you near nor what, and what’s your role in the company?

Shane Unfred (03:59):

Yeah, I, I’m actually located in Denver, Colorado. The, the home of the orange sunset, also known as Denver Broncos

Noah Rafalko (04:07):

<laugh>.

Shane Unfred (04:10):

So, uh, yeah, my role is around partnerships and alliances, uh, and figuring out how to make a, a stronger ecosystem with, uh, blockchain and, and telecommunications in total.

Kevin L. Jackson (04:24):

Great. So, uh, we have people all over the country. So, Jim, I, I think you’re out in, aren’t you?

Jim Johnston (04:31):

I

Kevin L. Jackson (04:33):

Have you any of my,

Jim Johnston (04:35):

No, all the money goes to the house here,

Kevin L. Jackson (04:39):

So introduces tns.

Jim Johnston (04:41):

Sure. Uh, um, thank you, Kevin for inviting me to the podcast today, and I look forward to the discussion. I’m out here in Vegas on the los on the trade. So, uh, circuit, originally from New York. My name is Jim Johnson, uh, the business Development Manager for Total Network Services in, uh, the Unified Communica Communication Identifier. Um, the Universal Communication Identifier is a blockchain enabled service for supply chain security, device management, software licensing, uh, geospatial tracking in both, in both physical and virtual assets on a distributed ledger. So I’ve spent many years in telecommunications, in cybersecurity space, and after seeing the capabilities here at U C I D, uh, I jumped the chance to be part of this team that’s focused on the cutting edge technology and, uh, endpoint solutions, security solutions.

Kevin L. Jackson (05:36):

Oh, great. So thank you very much for joining us and of course, sponsoring this show. So, Shane, at the start of the show, I alluded to the importance of telecommunication networks and the I t to our everyday lives. According to the TSG website, your company has a quote, senior focus on supporting the customer’s communication strategy while keeping an eye on their future. You also highlight the use of blockchain technology to mitigate fraud, protect privacy rates, and enable easy connectivity. How does blockchain fit into anyone’s telecommunications strategy?

Shane Unfred (06:23):

Kevin? There’s a lot of different use cases within telecommunications, uh, that block blockchain can leverage in support. It really comes down to identity associated with the telephone number. Okay. And everything that we do as consumers or enterprises or even carriers, we attach a telephone number to something. It could be an iot device, it could be your voice service, it could be your internet service, co-location, and many other services outside of telecom. So as we begin, this industry begins to evolve into the digital world, the gig economy, edge device, and computer Web 3.0. Having a, a trusted source of information that’s associated with an identity that can tie to a, that ties to a phone number and build out a record that can be trusted and am val validated and tested by that supply chain, becomes very important and valuable, and the way that helps solve many of the challenges in the industry. Um, you talk about, we’ve seen a lot of discussions around robocall fan text messages. This technology lends its cap capabilities and trust to be able to solve those issues more effectively than what we’re doing today.

Kevin L. Jackson (07:46):

Well, you know, I don’t think many people realize that everything that’s connected to the network has an actual telephone number, even if you don’t call it.

Shane Unfred (07:57):

Right. And we, our viewpoint is there’s one unique identifier on a global basis mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that happens to be a telephone number.

Kevin L. Jackson (08:08):

Wow. That’s, that’s, that’s, that’s huge. So, so Jim tns is also a blockchain company, and, and you just recently launched this new service, the U C I D, it targets the telecommunications industry also. So how does blockchain fit into your new service?

Jim Johnston (08:29):

Well, blockchain creates an immutable and unedible permanent record of any physical or virtual asset that we place on a distributed ledger. The U C I D is connected to the E I D, the I M E I, eim and, uh, phone number as we were just speaking about, and anything tokenized on a distributed ledger. So that’s what we’re, that’s what we’re going after and what we’re, what

Noah Rafalko (08:54):

We’re tackling.

Kevin L. Jackson (08:57):

Okay. So it sounds like the U C I D is sort of linked to the device, whereas the, the, the telephone number is sort of personal and it’s the, the, the user or, or the organization or location. And, and, and Noah earlier, um, when I talked about the panel was going to focus on the importance of security, compliance, and privacy. Uh, these seem to be all critical to how we depend on the global telecommunications network. Uh, your focus on telephone numbers really is the, the heart of your solution that addresses all three of these items. The, the T N I D, Could you please explain the solution and its importance?

Noah Rafalko (09:52):

Sure. Well, I wish we could claim credit for it, but the, the society has chosen a phone number as one of its, uh, acceptable use case identifiers, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we put it into our medical records, our voting records, uh, and it becomes virtual at that point. It becomes beyond a telephone number, truly, uh, it’s become our, our, our social security number in this new digital world. And with any identifier, it really comes into, uh, you know, how, how attested is that data? How many people can agree that that data is correct. And that’s where TNS and I, uh, and, uh, TSG completely overlap and support each other because in this new future, there’s going to be identity management supported by different elements that you live and breathe around today. Uh, there are a lot of devices that are telecommunications infrastructure supports, and there’s going to be many layers of outside and inside identifiers necessary to support them for all of us, because we’re, we’re growing at, uh, an unbelievable amount of iot devices to human beings on this planet.

Noah Rafalko (11:04):

And it’s happening beneath us, not us actively doing it. Uh, so having an identity that’s associated, like a telephone number is where we focus, because we come from the world of telecommunications. And telecommunications is marred with its own difficult issues, including robocall and robo texts. But if you really dig to the core of it, if you knew that you were going to be identified sending something, would you even attempt assemble? So we believe it just comes down to identity and working with partners like TNS and so many others that want to just help good communications and good identity, uh, supersede the, uh, what’s existing in this nefarious, uh, taking, uh, these nefarious events that are taking our identity away from us and not allowing us, us to manage it ourselves. Which, as I mentioned earlier, we’re already doing with our phone number in so many different ways.

Kevin L. Jackson (11:59):

Well, you know, I, I read just the other day that next month they’re gonna be over 8 billion humans on this earth. And I know personally, I, I probably have like 20 devices that are associated with me. So this means these are trillions and, and trillions of telephone numbers, um, that we need to manage that may be associated with each of these 8 billion humans. Uh, how, how are you going to do this? And, and, and Shane, what other ways is, uh, TSG Global protecting our communications? It sounds like a big job.

Shane Unfred (12:43):

It is a big job, but one that we can do and confident we can do, uh, especially with partners such as tns, to, to let, enable us to build a record that becomes even stronger because of different components that tie into it, right? The way we solve it is it’s really around compliancy. There’s many components around compliancy, whether text messaging in the US or registration of text messaging in Germany, every, uh, country has different requirements of compliancy. And how do you ensure that your customers remain compliant? And with T N I D, we set walk a customer through the process to the point that if they say they’re compliant, there’s checks and balances to ensure that they’re compliant. And the record, as Jim had noted, is stored in an immutable database. So you always have record of what was entered in and, and stored, but also checks and balances to ensure compliancy of, of that information. So that as well as building, uh, everybody knows the kyc know your customer, Uh, this enables multiple layers of that KYC to where the supply chain can see from the very end customer, whether consumer or an enterprise, all the way up to the government level to say, who is in that chain? And as everybody approved for that service, that’s associated with that number, right? That gives a check and balance that doesn’t exist today. And this is how it further protects consumers and enterprises going forward, as an example.

Kevin L. Jackson (14:28):

Well, I, I wanna pull on that a little bit since we are on the, uh, supply chain now and, uh, network, uh, you mentioned supply chain, and I always like to refer to our information, uh, supply chain. Um, does, does that make sense? Are you protecting our information supply chain?

Shane Unfred (14:51):

So in, in one of the beauty parts of this new technology is that each entity within the supply chain can permission their identity and information that they wanna permission out mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, and more importantly, it enables the industry globally to be able to share information that doesn’t violate privacy nor confidentiality. It gives them a mechanism to say, Hey, I think this number is bad, or, I think this number is really good, Um, and without conflicting with any privacy laws and so on. So, yeah.

Kevin L. Jackson (15:29):

Wow. That’s, uh, this is really important. And, and Jim, it is probably surprising to, um, that blockchain or technology that’s most associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is now being used to secure network devices. Could you please explain that?

Jim Johnston (15:48):

Sure. Um, uh, well, blockchain capabilities are, are in their infant stages and, uh, we’ll far outweigh cryptocurrencies and practical applications in the very near FU future. Uh, the largest cybersecurity threats that we face today come from the exploding I t market, the Internet of things, the mobile device market, and, uh, the U C I D prevents things like device cloning, s i fraud, the use of stolen components. The U C I D gives you the providence to the BOM or bill of materials from the beginning of the device’s manufacturing phase through its entire supply chain lifecycle, giving you many opportunities along the way to, um, do software updating and, and, and just finding out physically where, where that item is on, uh, on the map. So,

Kevin L. Jackson (16:45):

Well, you know, I I, I’ve read somewhere that in some countries up to 40% of the smartphones being used are actually counterfeit devices, and that the, the black market for these smartphones runs in into billions of of dollars. So, So Shane, anything to add to that? Why is blockchain so important to TSG Global?

Shane Unfred (17:12):

It’s very important in that one, it’s a new network, it’s a new technology, and we’ve, our one personally, our roots are in looking at new technology and how do we solve issues not only for our own company, but mm-hmm. <affirmative>, how could it be for the better good of the entire, uh, industry and globe, Right? So blockchain provides a mechanism to store the data that’s immutable, that invites people into that blockchain. If you’re a public blockchain, cryptocurrency, then you have a lot of processing power that requires everybody to build a consensus. But in the private blockchain arena, it’s really about the stakeholders, the enterprise, the carriers, the consumer that attest that relationship. And why it’s important is that now we’re enterprises and consumers are claiming their identity and being able to permission that information out as they choose to do fit. Versus today, we all put our identity in multiple different entities, which tend to be silo databases and siloed information out. How do we know how they’re managing that identity? Is it accurate? Is it inaccurate? And so this gives ability for ensuring it’s accurate because it becomes like a digital signature of our identity. And because I’m part of that solution, or my company’s part of that solution, I can attest that information at all times.

Kevin L. Jackson (18:48):

You know, you, you, you mentioned something as we talk about the, the different blockchains. I think you alluded to the fact that there are public blockchains and private blockchains. Uh, am I right? Uh, can you explain the difference why it’s such an important difference?

Shane Unfred (19:08):

Yeah. So public blockchains are built off of a pro, a concept called proof of work, where you have processing, uh, computers that are trying to solve a, a code, if you will, to build consensus of that record being validated in a private network. It is entities that are involved in that as a call, uh, proof of stake.

Kevin L. Jackson (19:35):

Okay?

Shane Unfred (19:36):

So I’m invited into the, uh, blockchain, I can, uh, pass my identity and I can, my partners and my customers at task that they’re doing relationship business with me. And now I have that consistent. So it’s very private, it’s secure. Um, so it’s a little bit different configuration for sure. Uh, mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, uh, I think at some point there will be in the future where, uh, hybrid approach, uh, public and private, uh, blockchains interface. Uh, but right now the very distinct and separate

Kevin L. Jackson (20:14):

Okay. No, that’s, that makes it clear. So like, something like Bitcoin is a public blockchain, whereas the blockchains that TNS and TSG global use are private, so that, uh, you can actually manage and protect the data that that’s on it. That’s, that’s very interesting. So, so Noah, our, earlier this week, we, we talked a little about the need for all of us to protect our personal information, but you also mentioned that different verification approaches like tn, I d and the D could work together to improve our cyber. Could you please explain that to our audience?

Noah Rafalko (21:05):

Absolutely. So how we look at, uh, any kind of identifiers is you can actually start at being born. Uh, when you’re born, it’s a piece of paper that’s, uh, that’s signed by a doctor, the parents in a witness, and that creates your first level of identity through a wet ink witness type, uh, environment. And as we start to evolve that in this digital world, how can we use what’s surrounding us today to identify ourselves? And how can we ensure that those devices have been identified themselves, right? Within, you know, our own networks. And this is where, you know, we start with the telephone number and we say, Okay, but what do you, what do you, what do you assign identity to with, with your phone number? Well, again, we put it in everywhere, whether it’s, you know, logging into our nest on the wall, uh, or identifying ourselves, uh, with our smart refrigerator, you know, or our, our doorbell.

Noah Rafalko (22:08):

Uh, it all comes down to that we’re using a single identifier, but it’s only one. So then you start to get into, well, how, how can you validate through a single telephone number, uh, that that person is that person interacting with a device or for a transaction, like, I wanna transfer money, You know, that’s more, you know, a critical transaction versus I wanna turn on my lights before I get home. It might heat, right? So if you think about a nest, a nest actually is an iot device. So in the future, what we see happening is, instead of, you know, a high, high value transaction occurring through you responding to a two fa, or what they call a two-factor authentication message coming into your SMS today mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, reading it or entering it into a third party, the devices themselves will automatically determine the probability that it’s really you based on your iot proximity to certain devices, how often you’re there, as well as other blockchains that are identifying those devices in its own blockchain.

Noah Rafalko (23:16):

And that would be like a tns. So using all these elements together, you certainly can see that you can have a consensus, just like Bitcoin has these minors that can, you know, we’re all driving a machine to make an algorithm pump out a code, right? Or a, a, a, the correct winning value, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we can look at the future of all of our devices will create that behind the scenes under the iPad screen. Let’s follow. So it’s really important to trust technology that’s going to be subset, and we’re all just plumbers here to make your lives easier, uh, using phone numbers that you use to in devices that you turn on and off, and we’ll do the rest. Don’t

Jim Johnston (24:05):

<laugh>, <laugh>, you’re, you’re first. I

Kevin L. Jackson (24:07):

Like that. Smart plumbers

Jim Johnston (24:09):

<laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. Great. <laugh>.

Kevin L. Jackson (24:11):

So Jim, anything to add to that?

Jim Johnston (24:13):

<laugh>? Yeah. Yeah. I You’re

Kevin L. Jackson (24:15):

A smart plumber too.

Jim Johnston (24:16):

<laugh>. Uh, I’m, I’m trying to, I’m a, I’m a journeyman right now. <laugh>. I think that adding more unique identifiers like the T N I D and the U C I D to blockchains, the elongating that dash, or what’s called salt, will create much stronger approach to deterring bad actors. Uh, the more companies like TSG and TNS that collaborate and create a more holistic approach to this endpoint security is, is key to securing our, our very vulnerable and exploding iot market. I mean, the, the more people we can get into the inner circle working on this, uh, collaboratively, is, is where I see the future.

Kevin L. Jackson (25:00):

Hmm. I tell you, you, um, are getting me a little scared here because of Noah was talking about when you’re born, and so said, now I’m gonna have this little U C I D enabled capsule. It’s implanted under my skin, and then, uh, TSG Global’s gonna give it a telephone number. And now for the rest of our life, what about privacy? So, so Shane, all of us in business have heard of GDPR and how it has changed how businesses are now handling our personal data. You guys are really getting personal now, and, and, and many US states are looking at enacting privacy laws, and US Congress is also making a lot of noise about doing something. So, so how will TSG help its customers in their efforts to comply with the upcoming new privacy laws?

Shane Unfred (26:03):

Yeah, so, so privacy laws tend to come about because companies like to share their data, my data, your data. Um, and with TN id, there’s a couple rounds. First of all, it is permissioned access. So as a consumer or as an enterprise, I can permission information out that, Hey, as a consumer, I want to hear from Adidas, or I want to hear from Wells Fargo. Um, today, we don’t have, I don’t have that choice. My information just goes up, hence the privacy laws. Uh, and so permission basis is obviously there within T N I D. What it also does, it enables enterprises to go through the process of compliancy checks. Hey, did you opt in for this type of message or opt out for this type of message? And what type of data do you really have that supports it? And then that data is stored in the, in the system. However, if you represent yourself as, uh, let’s just use an example, T-Mobile, I’m representing myself as T-Mobile, and it goes into tn i d tn I d will do the validation checks to say, Is Shane IED really authorized to speak on T-Mobile’s behalf?

Kevin L. Jackson (27:27):

Okay.

Shane Unfred (27:27):

And it’ll come back and it’ll probably say, Nope, and that order won’t go anywhere. So it stops that nefarious behavior up front, but it also ensures compliancy, whether it’s a regulation as privacy laws or communication laws, or even industry best practices, which tend to be very fluid and robust at times that it adapts and short gets that information and allows the customer to know, Hey, if I’m gonna get this identity in this digital world, I have to fill out this information. If I don’t fill it out, they don’t get that identity in the digital world. Um, so it, it basically gives ’em the guardrails and, and information so that they can be insured that they’re in compliance.

Kevin L. Jackson (28:24):

Oh, okay. Well, thank you, Shane. I’m, I’m feeling a little better now. There’s going to be some real, uh, way of making the do not call list work. <laugh>. Unfortunately, though our time is is coming, uh, to an end. But, but Jim, do you have any final thoughts about how do U C I D and order TN i d can protect our iot future?

Jim Johnston (28:52):

Sure. Uh, I think, uh, reiterating what I said earlier, having more companies, uh, like TSG and tns and as, as we’re speaking to, and, um, providing, uh, use cases and, uh, go to market strategies with other companies, we’re learning a lot more about some of the issues. So involving as many companies that are being affected in the supply chain network and the iot world and the mobile device world and get everybody working collaboratively is, is the way, uh, the future will change. And, uh, we can stop bad actors from, uh, getting in from endpoint perspective

Kevin L. Jackson (29:33):

Endpoint protection. That’s really great. So, no, Noah, any final thoughts?

Noah Rafalko (29:38):

Uh, absolutely. What I would say to everyone in the audience, audience, including yourself in the sense of a consumer, we’re all consumers as well. Yeah. Uh, our job is to enable and empower you with your own privacy protections and your own ability to manage your own identity. That’s why we’re not the ones going to, to maintain access to you. We’re just gonna give you the tools that you allow your yourself to connect with a business, a business connect with you, or even, you know, that long lost aunt you never wanna speak to again, <laugh>.

Jim Johnston (30:12):

Oh, that’s good.

Kevin L. Jackson (30:13):

So, great. Great. So before we end though, could each of you tell our audience how to reach out to you in order to learn more? Uh, let’s start with Jim.

Jim Johnston (30:23):

Sure. Uh, it’s Jim total network services.io. Or you can call me directly on my cell phone at (518) 331-0464. Once again, that’s 5 1 8 3 3 1 0 4 64.

Kevin L. Jackson (30:44):

I gotta register that with a tnd, I guess. And Shane

Shane Unfred (30:48):

<laugh>.

Kevin L. Jackson (30:49):

Exactly. People reach out to you.

Shane Unfred (30:52):

Oh, Jim, I’ll send you a tokenized link later. Thank you, <laugh>. Uh, I can be reached at shane dot N f r e d tsg global.com, and you find me on LinkedIn, or feel free to reach out to myself. 9 7 0 9 8 8 4 2 4 1.

Jim Johnston (31:15):

Great. And Shane’s already protected, so I should got, I should have got on the phone with him beforehand, got protected <laugh>

Kevin L. Jackson (31:24):

And, uh, no.

Noah Rafalko (31:25):

Sure. Uh, you can reach me, uh, directly at my email. I’ll make it short instead of spelling out my name, CEO TSG, G L O B A l.com, and my can be reach number, which by consulting clients from decades ago, still have this number. That is 6 1 7 5 9 2 2 0 6 4. And I can also be found on LinkedIn, uh, texting is the way to get my attention. If you call, I’ll probably at this point still think you’re a robocall, <laugh>, but we’re, Thank you.

Kevin L. Jackson (32:00):

No, thank you. And, and, uh, all this information will be in the show notes if you, if you miss that information. So thank you all for that enlightening discussion. But in closing, I would like to invite everyone to check out a wide variety of industry thought leadership@supplychainnow.com. And you can find digital transformers and supply chain now wherever you get your podcast. So be sure to subscribe on behalf of the entire team here at Supply Chain now, this is Kevin L. Jackson wishing all of our listeners a bright and transformational future. We’ll see you next time on Digital Transformers.

Intro/Outro (32:52):

Thank you for supporting Digital Transformers and for being a part of our global supply chain now community. Please check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com. Make sure you subscribe to Digital Transformers anywhere you listen to or view the show, and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on Digital Transformers.