Quantum-Secured Data Centre Interconnect in a field environment

TL;DR

This paper reports a successful field trial of quantum key distribution (QKD) in a commercial data centre environment, demonstrating its practical feasibility for securing data centre interconnects over existing fibre networks.

Contribution

It presents the first real-world implementation of QKD for data centre interconnects using existing infrastructure, with measurable secret key rates and secure file transfer capabilities.

Findings

Average secret key rate of 2.392 kbps achieved

Quantum bit error rate maintained below 2%

Secure file transfer demonstrated between data centres

Abstract

In the evolving landscape of quantum technology, the increasing prominence of quantum computing poses a significant threat to the security of conventional public key infrastructure. Quantum key distribution (QKD), an established quantum technology at a high readiness level, emerges as a viable solution with commercial adoption potential. QKD facilitates the establishment of secure symmetric random bit strings between two geographically separated, trustworthy entities, safeguarding communications from potential eavesdropping. In particular, data centre interconnects can leverage the potential of QKD devices to ensure the secure transmission of critical and sensitive information in preserving the confidentiality, security, and integrity of their stored data. In this article, we present the successful implementation of a QKD field trial within a commercial data centre environment that utilises the existing fibre network infrastructure. The achieved average secret key rate of 2.392 kbps and an average quantum bit error rate of less than 2% demonstrate the commercial feasibility of QKD in real-world scenarios. As a use case study, we demonstrate the secure transfer of files between two data centres through the Quantum-Secured Virtual Private Network, utilising secret keys generated by the QKD devices.