Toshiba, Ciena Collaborate to Demonstrate Quantum Secure Communication at OFC

Toshiba will demonstrate its quantum secure communication platform with Ciena (NYSE:CIEN), a global leader in networking systems, services, and software, at OFC Conference 2024. The quantum secure link will connect the Ciena and Toshiba exhibition booths with the OFCnet by using both QKD trusted node and multiplexing technology that will help to secure the network traffic over existing fiber optic cables.

Relentless progress in quantum computing can weaken much of the cryptography used today. In particular, all widely used forms of public key cryptography rely on the difficulty of certain mathematically hard problems, which can be solved efficiently on a large-scale quantum computer. To protect future network communications, new advancements and developments in “quantum-safe” technologies are critical to help eliminate attacks in the quantum era.

Additionally, today’s data is also susceptible to “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks, where an adversary can store encrypted messages today, to later decrypt when a large-scale quantum processor becomes available. This is particularly problematic for information with a long-term value, such as financial records, medical data, corporate intellectual property or details of a nation’s critical infrastructure.

The demonstration, which will run continuously from March 26–28 during the conference at Ciena booth #2427, OFCnet booth #923 and Toshiba booth #1108, will validate how quantum keys generated by Toshiba QKD devices can be used to encrypt data using Ciena’s Waveserver 5 to securely send data in a multilink environment, over two links in three locations, using a ‘Trusted Node.’ Secure keys for end-to-end are relayed at the Trusted Node.

“This demonstration will show that our Quantum Key Management System (Q-KMS), enables the ability to create secure networks and to protect multiple sites and locations,” said Shinya Murai, senior fellow at Toshiba Digital Solutions Corporation, Toshiba's digital and quantum technology business arm. “In addition to this, Q-KMS performs proactive key allocation based on the QKD network capacity in real time. This enables high volume and low latency key delivery to encryption solution.”

As part of the demonstration, Toshiba will connect QKD units between the Toshiba and Ciena booths via OFCnet, showing unconditional secure key exchange with its QKD Systems LD and MU. It will also highlight how the flexibility of Ciena’s WaveLogic coherent encryption solution allows operators to deploy QKD solutions to match their operational needs, from co-propagating optical and quantum signals on a single fiber pair, to leveraging an additional fiber for more challenging optical spans.