Israel launches consortium to build communications networks safe from quantum computers
Nine technology companies and six universities will work on post-quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution and hybrid systems across multiple layers of communications infrastructure.
A consortium of Israeli technology companies and universities is joining forces to develop communications technologies designed to withstand a threat that may still be years away but is already forcing governments and the technology industry to rethink how they protect data.
The new Post-Quantum Communications (PQC) Consortium, supported by the Israel Innovation Authority’s Technological Infrastructure Division, will develop and evaluate technologies intended to protect communications networks against future quantum computers, which are expected to make many of today's widely used encryption methods vulnerable.
The consortium brings together nine technology companies, Allot, Ceragon, Classiq, Gilat Satellite Networks, Heqa, Elta, Nvidia, RAD and Ribbon, along with six Israeli universities: Bar-Ilan University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Open University of Israel, the Technion and the University of Haifa.
Allot is a founding member and will chair the consortium, but the initiative is broader than any one company. Its stated goal is to develop technologies that can eventually protect communications across the different layers and architectures through which data moves.
That includes optical networks, Ethernet and IP infrastructure, mobile communications, satellite networks, data centers and internet-based communications.
The breadth of the consortium reflects the difficulty of the problem. Quantum-safe communications are not simply a matter of replacing one encryption algorithm with another. Communications networks are built from numerous technologies and layers, and a weakness in any part of that chain could potentially undermine the security of the system as a whole.
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The consortium will therefore examine several approaches to quantum-safe security, including post-quantum cryptography, or PQC; quantum key distribution, or QKD; and hybrid systems combining the two.
The urgency behind the research comes from the expected ability of sufficiently powerful quantum computers to break some of the mathematical problems underpinning current encryption systems.
That threat is not necessarily immediate. But communications data can remain sensitive for years or decades, creating a problem for organizations that need to protect information today against the possibility that it could eventually be decrypted using more powerful technology.
The consortium's work is intended to address that transition by examining how different quantum-safe technologies can function across multiple network environments.
Post-quantum cryptography relies on mathematical algorithms designed to remain secure against both conventional and quantum computers. Quantum key distribution takes a different approach, using properties of quantum physics to distribute encryption keys. Hybrid approaches can combine elements of both.
The consortium plans to develop and evaluate all three approaches rather than betting on a single technology.
