September 23, 2024 -- TIM Group’s companies Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top global operators, and Telsy, center of excellence for communication security and cybersecurity with its participated company QTI Quantum Telecommunications Italy, leading Italian QKD provider, announce the successful completion of a Proof of Concept (PoC) on a high-capacity link between two data centers in Athens, secured with Quantum Key Distribution (QKD).

In the context of an ever-increasing density of data traffic and need to protect their integrity and confidentiality, QKD represents one of the most promising solutions to offer an additional level of security to existing communication infrastructures. By leveraging the laws of quantum mechanics, QKD offers unconditional security against both classical cyber threats and possible future interceptions by quantum computers.

The PoC consisted of a quantum-secure videoconference carried out through Telsy’s Antares platform, on a high-capacity link between two of Sparkle’s data centers in Athens; it demonstrated the ability to deliver QKD secured connectivity services on an existing operator network, highlighting the replicability, efficiency and flexibility of the solution. The QKD link was in fact implemented on the same fiber pair used for classical communication channels without the need of additional dedicated fiber optic infrastructure nor architectural changes on Sparkle’s metropolitan fiber network in Athens. Finally, the use of the Apollo optical networking system from Ribbon Communications, a global provider of real time communication solutions, enabled client traffic to be encrypted and transported over a 400G link.

This PoC on Quantum Key Distribution follows two successful trials carried out by Sparkle on Post Quantum Cryptography – one on an International VPN between Italy and Germany and one on Internet access service in Athens – thus confirming Sparkle’s pioneering role in this area and strong commitment to elevating the security and resilience of its infrastructure even  before the advent of quantum computers. The commercial launch of Sparkle’s Quantum-Safe Internet is planned for later this year and will be progressively followed by other security services.

“With this PoC on Quantum Key Distribution we take another step forward in protecting our network against the potential threat of quantum decryption”, said Antonella Sanguineti, head of marketing and product management for networking, cloud, security and identity solutions at Sparkle. “The various experiments we have conducted, in collaboration with the most experienced companies in the field and within the framework of European and international projects, reinforce our determination to continue along this path in order to offer our customers maximum protection.”

“The implementation highlighted the definitive shift of QKD technology from the lab to the market, providing an efficient, cost-effective and easily deployable real-world use case”, said Pierangela Pitzolu, director of International Government Business Development at Telsy.

“With Quantum Key Distribution we now have a tool for upgrading our telecom networks to achieve unconditional and future-proof security. This implementation is a valuable use case which is showcasing the potentiality of the technology to be adopted widely”, declared Tommaso Occhipinti, CEO of QTI.