SPTel, Singapore-based digital service provider, and SpeQtral, a quantum-encryption solution provider, have successfully completed a first trial for a quantum-secure digital network on the already-existing fiber network of SPTel.
SpeQtral carried out the trial on the fiber network of SPTel, utilizing quantum-enabled encryptors from ST Engineering and the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology from Toshiba Digital Solutions. DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) data and QKD channels were successfully tested over a single pair of SPTel fiber across a 55 km distance by the two firms.
In QKD communication, two parties create a shared random secret key that is known only to them and is used to encrypt and decrypt messages using a cryptographic procedure that incorporates elements of quantum physics.
A bit stream of ones and zeros is produced by transmitting millions of polarized light particles (photons), each of which has a random quantum state. Only the transmitter and recipient are aware of the random and unique optical key needed to decrypt the encrypted message as a regular data stream.
According to Titus Yong, SPTel’s CEO, SPTel network hubs located throughout Singapore could serve as “intermediate nodes” to establish a high-capacity QKD-secured DWDM network in order to “extend” the effective transmission distance while the quantum-secured network services protect users’ data.
The trials also open the path for QKD to be added to SPTel’s high-capacity Data Centre Interconnect (DCI) services, which are accessible across all significant commercial data centers and offer customers quantum-safe data transmission for highly secure applications. SPTel has currently connected 90% of Singapore’s commercial data centers.
Yong also stated that SPTel offers consumers a more affordable QKD-enabled network by eliminating the requirement for a separate fiber for QKD signals. The ability to allow quantum-secure encrypted data transfer through SPTel’s fiber network provides businesses and government organizations with the chance to transmit highly private information with the assurance of digital security.
Furthermore, Young claimed that the trial’s success verified both how Toshiba’s QKD technology functions on a single pair of SPTel fiber and how it interfaces with ST Engineering’s quantum-enabled encryptors’ key retrieval procedure.
For Chune Yang Lum, SpeQtral’s co-founder and CEO, an effective QKD trial conducted in collaboration with SPTel lays the “foundation to deploy” quantum-secure networks for businesses and government organizations in Singapore.
