BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Quantum Xchange today launches the first quantum, fiber-optic network in the United States and commercial Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) service for quantum-safe data protection based on the laws of quantum physics. Leveraging the company's Trusted Node technology, the Quantum Xchange QKD network extends the technology well beyond the previous limitations of transmission distances, to offer commercial enterprises and government entities point-to-point support over unlimited distances. In doing so, Quantum Xchange provides the most sophisticated, infinitely hardened encryption available to address the shortcomings of today's encryption standards, and the imminent threat of quantum computers.
The $10 million round of funding led by New Technology Ventures (NTV) will support the deployment of dark fiber quantum networks that will serve the Northeast Corridor from Washington D.C. to Boston, before expanding nationwide. Quantum Xchange’s first QKD network will connect the financial markets on Wall Street with back office operations in New Jersey, helping banks keep high-value transactions and mission-critical data safe and secure.
"Quantum Xchange raises the bar for modern-day encryption and gives organizations a future-proof data security infrastructure to combat the looming threat of quantum computers," said John Prisco, President and CEO of Quantum Xchange. "Our technology is easy to deploy, complements and enhances current encryption investments, and is not weakened by quantum computing, mathematical discoveries, or massive parallel computing networks. As such, Quantum Xchange is the ultimate solution for keeping mission-critical data safe today, tomorrow, and well into the future."
The world's volume of data has been growing exponentially year-over-year, giving cybercriminals a greater opportunity to expose massive amounts of data in a single breach and costing the global economy $600 billion annually. The arrival of quantum computers will arm nefarious actors with machines powerful enough to crack the toughest Internet security ciphers in just seconds. Even stolen data that is protected by Secure Socket Layer (SSL) will be easily deciphered by quantum computers in the not-so-distant future.
"Quantum Xchange is a true industry trailblazer," said David Monahan, Managing Research Director at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). "Nation-states and other nefarious agents have been stockpiling encrypted data for years waiting for the arrival of technology to decode it. Quantum computers capable of breaking existing SSL encryption may only be a few years away. The time to prepare for this eventuality is now. Organizations without a well-articulated quantum risk management plan will fall behind, and lose business to, those that do."
Current protocols for secure data transmission are rooted in mathematical algorithms that can be solved – even when enterprises extend SSL key lengths. In contrast to public-key cryptography protocols like Diffie-Hellman, RSA, and elliptic-curve cryptography, QKD systems leverage the fundamental properties of quantum mechanics – using photons of light, not prime numbers, to physically transfer a shared secret between two entities. QKD takes advantage of a photon's multiple quantum states, coupled with its no-change and no-cloning attributes, which means keys cannot be unknowingly interrupted, corrupted, cloned, or exposed during transmission.
As the first commercial QKD solution in the U.S., Quantum Xchange exclusively owns the distance enhancing Trusted Node technology developed by Battelle which can extend the QKD range indefinitely using 100-mile multiples, making large-scale QKD over long distances possible and practical. The Trusted Nodes use quantum keys generated by QKD devices from ID Quantique, the Swiss leader in quantum communications, under an exclusive US licensing agreement.
“ID Quantique’s QKD solutions have been working robustly in the field, securing Swiss elections for over a decade,” said Dr. Grégoire Ribordy, CEO and Co-Founder of ID Quantique. “Other long-term customers include banks, governments and enterprises worldwide. Quantum Xchange’s model to provide end-to-end quantum keys on demand in the US will ensure easy accessibility for such customers to the highest levels of data protection, with inbuilt eavesdropping detection and forward security.”
“NTV invests in companies that are positioned to force paradigm shifts with high-impact technologies addressing significant, unmet societal needs,” adds Hal Chapel, Managing Director and Partner, New Technology Ventures. “Quantum Xchange’s commercially proven solution for implementing QKD to transport high-value data offers just that. We look forward to seeing the leadership role this company will assume as it pushes the cyber and IT industries to address the looming security threat from the evolution of quantum computing.”
Highly regulated, high-risk organizations, including those in banking, critical infrastructure, telecommunications, healthcare, and government are ideal candidates for Quantum Xchange's distance enhancing QKD solution. It requires no changes to current encryption tools or protocols and can be implemented today. Quantum Xchange-as-a-Service is available as a monthly subscription for unlimited use of keys with one, three, and five-year pricing packages.
About Quantum Xchange
As the provider of quantum-safe encryption, Quantum Xchange gives commercial enterprises and government agencies the ultimate defense to keep high-value data safe – today, tomorrow and in the future. Offering the first and only quantum fiber-optic network in the United States, Quantum Xchange enables organizations to send infinitely secured data over long distances using the laws of quantum physics. Leveraging the proven secure Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) method and its own exclusive Trusted Node technology for unlimited point-to-point distances, Quantum Xchange's future-proof, secure, data-transmission infrastructure addresses the shortcomings inherent with modern-day encryption: the ability for keys to be intercepted, corrupted or exposed during transmission, and the imminent threat of quantum computers. To learn more about the future of security realized today, visit QuantumXC.com or follow us on Twitter @Quantum_Xchange.
