Swiss on a Roll With Quantum Crypto

[R. A. Hettinga]

<http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=60160>

Light Reading - Networking the Telecom Industry

SEPTEMBER 29, 2004 ?


Swiss on a Roll With Quantum Crypto

GENEVA -- Deckpoint and id Quantique, two private companies active in the
field of information technology and based in Geneva, Switzerland, and the
University of Geneva announce, as a world premiere, the official opening of
a data archiving network secured using quantum cryptography technology. A
ceremony will take place on September 29th 2004, at 11 :00 am in Geneva.
Carlo Lamprecht, the Minister of Economy, Labor and Foreign Affairs of the
Republic and Canton of Geneva, as well as Professor André Hurst, the Dean
of the University of Geneva, will attend this ceremony.

 In a world where the reliance on electronic data transmission and
processing is becoming every day more prevalent, data archiving plays a
critical role in the ability of an organization to operate continuously
under all circumstances. In order to guarantee the highest availability of
information, the use of remote backup solutions on several sites is
increasing strongly. In such a scenario, the confidentiality and the
integrity of sensitive information exchanged between two sites is of the
utmost importance.

 Current cryptographic techniques used to guarantee this confidentiality
are based on mathematical theories. In spite of the fact, that they are
very widespread, they do not offer a foolproof security. They are in
particular vulnerable to increasing computing power and theoretical
advances in mathematics. On the contrary, quantum cryptography exploits the
laws of quantum physics to guarantee in an absolute fashion the
confidentiality of data transmission. « Quantum cryptography constitutes a
revolution in the field of information security » says Professor Nicolas
Gisin, of the University of Geneva. « It is the only solution offering long
term confidentiality and which cannot be compromised by scientific or
technological advances ».

 The University of Geneva, where research on quantum cryptography started
in the early 90's, played a pioneer role in the development of this
technology. At the end of 2001, four researchers, who were convinced of the
potential of this technology, founded the company id Quantique to develop
commercial applications.

 id Quantique and Deckpoint joined forces to develop and implement the
first data archiving network secured using quantum cryptography. The data
saved on a farm of 30 servers of the Deckpoint Housing Center, in the
Acacias district of Geneva, are replicated on servers located at the Cern
Internet Exchange Point, in Meyrin, in the suburbs of Geneva. The distance
between the two sites is about 10 kilometers. This application, which will
initially last about one month, constitutes a world premiere.

 id Quantique, the first company to bring quantum cryptography to the
market, provided the hardware used in this application. « This world
premiere is an excellent illustration of the of the potential of this
technology » says Gregoire Ribordy, CEO. « The company confirms thus its
leading position in applications of quantum technologies. »

 « We are convinced that security has become critical, in particular with
the implementation of the Basel II standards in the banking industry as of
2006. The economic world cannot afford anymore not to have a complete
information security strategy » adds Dominique Perisset, director of
Deckpoint. Seduced by the ambitions and visionary nature of this project,
Deckpoint granted access to its infrastructure and offered technical
support to make the implementation of this network possible.


-- 
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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