The Melita Data Centre in Madliena provided the location for a demonstration of the quantum communications testbed network being developed and deployed in the PRISM project on Melita’s existing country-wide fibre network. This testbed network has been developed as part of the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI) project, designed to create a quantum communications network across the EU with world-leading cybersecurity capabilities.
This demonstration was another step towards creating a quantum communications network across the EU. Two of the nodes in Malta’s quantum testbed network were connected to Sicily, with the demonstration providing attendees with the opportunity to see the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) devices that are being used to facilitate the quantum link to Italy.
James Spina, Chief Technology Officer at Melita Limited, said, “The roll-out of an EU-wide quantum communications network will be critical to guarantee secure communications in the future. Melita, together with its partners in the PRISM Consortium, is leading the way in establishing how such quantum networks would operate on commercially deployed fiber networks and in enabling the development of the standards to be adopted by the EuroQCI project. This is not only a great endorsement of Melita’s technical infrastructure but also Malta’s capabilities in the fields of quantum physics and engineering.”
Prof. André Xuereb, Professor of Physics at the University of Malta and founder of Merqury Cybersecurity, a key technical partner in the PRISM consortium, said, “The demonstration at the Melita Data Centre formed part of a weeklong series of activities held in Malta during which ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) delegates from all over the world were able to continue their work developing the standardisation roadmap for quantum technologies. The work being done in Malta by the PRISM Consortium is preparing the foundations for a quantum communications network which will make communication impervious to novel threats such as those posed by quantum computers – now and in the future. We should all take pride in the fact that Malta is playing such an important role in this incredibly important project.”
More information on the work of the PRISM project can be found at https://prism-euroqci.eu/
Photo: Daniel Bonanno from Merqury Cybersecurity demonstrating the quantum testbed network at the Melita Data Centre
This project is co-funded by the European Union under the Digital Europe Programme grant agreement number 101111875. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
