Bringing UNIQORN DV-engines to deployed optical edge layer applications
The integration of DV-engine in optical edge layer segments to demonstrate QKD-centric use cases will be the main goal of application scenarios pursued in Athens Demo Zone. Three different experiments will be carried out in deployed fiber infrastructure targeting the following applications:
- The DPS transmitter will be integrated as part of Alice station located at the central node of COSM premises delivering quantum keys for secured FTTx services. A passive fiber deployment will be installed through the deployed fiber link between COSM and ICCS/NTUA emulating a realistic FTTx scenario operated in metropolitan area of Athens.
- The UNIQORN DV-engine will be then used to deliver quantum keys along with interconnection links of LTE small cells and 5G terminal nodes. P2P and P2MP topologies will be considered for this use case emphasizing on both quantum layer performance as well in key 5G-related figures (such as e2e latency).
- The DPS transmitter will be also used for demonstrating a beyond-security application, where the classical parameters of M-QAM signals will be correlated with the raw key rates and QBER values of the DPS link in a C-band coexistence scenario. This will allow us to monitor classical layer filtering penalties using the performance metrics of UNIQORN DV-engine.
Quantum-secured multi-user topology with a centralized Alice station and multiple Bob stations located at the mobile terminal nodes
Quantum Security for Intra-DC Networks
The traditional model for Data Center security relies on technologies that are placed in the ingress and egress points of the network, analyzing and restricting incoming and outgoing traffic. In the past recent years, the rise of the public cloud, the exponential rise of east-west traffic as well as other trends like the wide use of virtualization and microservices all contribute to rendering the traditional security scheme insufficient. In the following years, encryption and strong security schemes will be used to protect the integrity and confidentiality of data-in-motion as well as data-in-rest inside the Data Center. In addition, the progress of Quantum Computing technologies creates the need to migrate from classical security schemes to information-theoretic secure solutions.
Mellanox as one of the leading Data Center equipment providers owns a strong portfolio of Network Interface Cards (NICs) and SmartNICs that are already employed by major Data Center owners. One of the most important tasks of these NICs is to offload the server CPUs from resource draining security tasks and provide efficient smart in-network security. Thus, providing support and compatibility for the latest security trends is a major focus for Mellanox NICs development. The UNIQORN project is a great opportunity for Mellanox to co-operate closely with partners that develop systems and components for quantum security applications and to better understand the future needs of intra-DC security. Mellanox targets on developing NICs that will be fully compatible with the quantum systems in order to provide state-of-the-art security as well as backwards compatibility with the already deployed DC servers, since the quantum security will be undertaken by the NIC. Starting with the extraction of randomness from a QRNG and the demonstration of an end-to-end encrypted link that uses seeds from the QRNG, Mellanox will:
- actively participate in several other applications and tasks like one-time programs, low-cost DPS transmitter, programmable ROADM and EPR node etc.,
- provide specifications and requirements for the components under development and
- set-up a quantum communication lab test-bed in its premises.
