Quantum key delivery technique claims commercial viability

Market news | September 10, 2019

By Rich Pell

The Phio Trusted Xchange (TX) is a patent-pending key management system that enables organizations to select the level of protection needed based on their risk tolerance, resource availability, and other business drivers. Working within an organization’s existing encryption environment, the Phio TX out-of-band symmetric key delivery, says the company, enables encrypted, fault-tolerant, and load-balanced point-to-multipoint key transmissions across any distance without the need for dedicated fiber.

Organizations can select advanced end-to-end protection (i.e., traditional cryptography with out-of-band key delivery), quantum cryptography via Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), or a combination of both – all of which are resistant to quantum attack.

“Phio TX is a true game-changing technology and puts Quantum Xchange several years ahead of any other quantum communications provider,” says John Prisco, CEO and President of Quantum Xchange. “The magnitude of this innovation is three-fold: first, it makes your environment even more secure because existing crypto-keys are now quantum safe; secondly, it offers practicality and affordability to organizations who can start simple, then grow as the need arises by layering in QKD for unbreakable key exchange; and third, it makes QKD commercially viable by removing the distance limitations and point-to-point only restrictions that have hindered QKD’s adoption by enterprises.”

Designed to be vendor agnostic and work independently of QKD, Phio TX introduces a self-organizing mesh network of secure nodes with hop-to-hop transmissions every 100 kilometers across any transport – such as WAN, fiber, or wireless – to multiple destinations. It doesn’t require dedicated fiber, and other QKD investments can be seamlessly integrated into the Phio TX network configuration at any phase of deployment.

By separating the data and key delivery channel, brute force quantum computer attacks are practically impossible, says the company. Combining keys delivered inline by traditional methods, and out-of-band by using Phio TX, allows for unobtrusive deployment on existing networks while significantly increasing the encrypted channel’s resistance to attacks.

The company launched its Phio quantum network – which provides quantum-safe encryption over unlimited distances – in the U.S. in June 2018, and currently offers a collection of products and services for cyber-aware organizations and government agencies looking to be quantum ready, crypto agile, and resistant to quantum attack. Products can be used individually, or as a managed service, and now include the following:

Phio QK (Quantum Keys): Quantum Xchange’s unbreakable key exchange using photons of light that can’t be cloned, interrupted, or altered in any way. QKD is the only provably secure and absolute method for sharing a secret key between two entities, using quantum mechanics instead of electronic bits to transmit encryption keys.
Phio TX (Trusted Xchange): The patent-pending, out-of-band key delivery technology that enables encrypted, fault-tolerant and load-balanced point-to-multipoint transmissions across any distance. The encryption and key generation work together with QKD if desired, delivering a dynamic, future-proof solution.
Phio Fiber Network: 1,000 kilometers of existing optical fiber and 19 co-location centers along the Boston to Washington route from strategic infrastructure partner Zayo Group. The first quantum-ready fiber network in the U.S. runs from Washington, D.C., to New York City and onto Boston, including key connections to the financial markets on Wall Street with back office operations in New Jersey.

The company says that it plans to extend its Phio fiber network nationwide over the next 12 months.

Quantum Xchange