European Quantum Ecosystems -- Preparing the Industry for the Quantum Security and Communications Revolution

TL;DR

This paper presents EQUO, a DEP initiative under EuroQCI, which aims to prepare Europe’s industry for quantum-secure communications by developing and validating discrete-variable QKD networks with a centralized SDN-like control plane. It details an architecture that uses a message broker, a Key Management Module (KMM), and QKD gateways aligned with ITU-T and ETSI standards to enable secure, QoS-aware key provisioning across multi-hop links. Two demonstrations validate the approach: a Tel Aviv data-center link illustrating metro-area QKD security and a Turin metropolitan network showing dynamic, multi-user QKD service integration with fog/edge computing. The authors also discuss standardisation gaps, advocating push-based key retrieval to replace polling in ETSI GS QKD 004, to accelerate industrial uptake and foster a European QKD ecosystem including SMEs.

Abstract

There is mounting evidence that a second quantum revolution based on the technological capabilities to detect and manipulate single quantum particles (e.g., electrons, photons, ions, etc), a feat not achieved during the first quantum revolution, is progressing fast. It is expected that in less than 10 years, this second quantum revolution shall have a significant impact over numerous industries, including finance, medicine, energy, transportation, etc. Quantum computers threaten the status quo of cybersecurity, due to known quantum algorithms that can break asymmetric encryption, which is what gives us the ability to communicate securely using a public channel. Considering the world's dependence on digital communication through data exchange and processing, retaining the ability to communicate securely even once quantum computers come into play, cannot be stressed enough. Two solutions are available: Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC); which, we emphasise, are not mutually exclusive. The EuroQCI initiative, of which EQUO is a part of, focuses on QKD and aims to build a network whereby EU countries can communicate securely through QKD. To this aim, the DEP (Digital Europe Programme) project aims to bring technological matureness to QKD by deploying a QKD test network and, through this exercise, understand what is lacking from an operator's point of view when the time to integrate QKD in their network comes.

Figures (4)

• Figure 1: High-level architecture used and developed in the EQUO project. Blocks with italicised text are still in development.
• Figure 2: EQUO fibre and metro ring paths.
• Figure 3: Test bed architecture in detail.
• Figure 4: Turin use case.