ID Quantique and SK Broadband selected for the construction of the first nation-wide QKD network in Korea
The two companies will protect major areas of public networks with its Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology on a section of up to 2000 kilometers.
ID Quantique (IDQ), the world leader in Quantum-Safe security solutions and SK Broadband, Korea’s telecom media service provider today announced that they have been selected to secure the communication network of 48 government organizations across the country, including the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Education and local governments.
The National Convergence Network Project is a very large project promoted by the Korean’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety to strengthen security and stability, and to increase the efficiency of the operation and budget of national institutions. It will constitute the largest operational QKD network in the world outside of China.
ICT technologies such as Internet of Things are spreading throughout society and evolving into a hyperconnected society, and communication network traffic is expected to surge due to increasing demand for new public and convergence services such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud.
South Korea states that there is a clear need to build a flexible information and communication network while increasing the level of security of the networks. IDQ’s quantum technologies have been chosen to protect the network provided by SK Broadband.
At ID Quantique, we focus on providing high-performance quantum-safe security solutions for the protection of data in transit. By upgrading existing network encryption products with Quantum Key Distribution (aka quantum cryptography), IDQ ensures that the solutions are “quantum-safe”. Based on the laws of quantum mechanics, QKD enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key known only to them, which can then be used to encrypt and decrypt messages. Our solutions protect sensitive data into and beyond the quantum era when quantum computers, which are being built now, will render most of today’s conventional encryption algorithms vulnerable.
“The reason we were able to win the business was that we decided to apply next-generation network technologies such as T-SDN and quantum cryptographic communication from ID Quantique to the national convergence network.”
Lee Bang-yeol, head of SK Broadband’s corporate headquarters
“This project in Korea aims at protecting major areas of public networks with our technology and at a scale never reached before. It is a privilege to contribute to building a safe and secure future and to offer the highest level of trust for Korea’s public administrations.”
Grégoire Ribordy, CEO and co-founder of ID Quantique
About SK Broadband
SK Broadband is a fixed-line telecommunications media service company established in 1997 and affiliated to SK Group in Korea. The company provides High-speed internet (FTTH (10Gbps, 2.5Gbps, 1Gbps, 100Mbps), xDSL, HFC, VAS, CCTV security), IPTV (UHD, Real Time Broadcast, VoD, Interactive Service, N-Screen, T-commerce), Voice (Local / Long distance / International call, VoIP, IMS, Music ring, Intelligent Network), Enterprise product solution (Domestic / International Leased Line, VPN, IDC, CDN, Managed Service, IP Telephony). In 1999, it launched the world’s first commercial ADSL service and local call services and in 2020, SK Broadband was ranked No.1 for broadband, VoIP & IPTV for 10 consecutive years from NCSI (National Customer Satisfaction Index).
For more information, please visit www.skbroadband.com.
About ID Quantique
Founded in 2001 as a spin-off of the Group of Applied Physics of the University of Geneva, ID Quantique is the world leader in quantum-safe crypto solutions, designed to protect data for the future. The company provides quantum-safe network encryption, secure quantum key generation and Quantum Key Distribution solutions and services to the financial industry, enterprises and government organizations globally. IDQ’s quantum random number generator has been validated according to global standards and independent agencies, and is the reference in highly regulated and mission critical industries – such as security, encryption, critical infrastructure and IoT- where trust is paramount.
Additionally, IDQ is a leading provider of optical instrumentation products, most notably photon counters and related electronics. The company’s innovative photonic solutions are used in both commercial and research applications.
IDQ’s products are used by government, enterprise and academic customers in more than 60 countries and on every continent. IDQ is proud of its independence and neutrality, and believes in establishing long-term and trusted relationships with its customers and partners.
For more information, please visit www.idquantique.com.
Contact Info:
Catherine Simondi
VP Marketing & Communication
catherine.simondi@idquantique.com
+41 (0) 22 301 83 71
