Arqit Announces BT Contract to Launch New Quantum Cybersecurity Platform and Plan to Create 2000 Jobs

(Arqit) Arqit, a British company established in 2017, has announced the launch of a new quantum cybersecurity platform designed to solve current and future threats to the security of internet communications. The platform, QuantumCloud™, uses transformational innovation in both quantum physics and crypto-mathematics, and has been developed over the course of four years of collaboration with the UK Government, BT and Virgin Orbit.
The launch positions the British economy at the forefront of global innovation in quantum, space and cyber technology, and Arqit alone intends to create 2,000 high-tech jobs in the UK. Since 2017, Arqit has received significant financial support from the UK Government through various departments and innovation programs. Arqit is in a position now to announce that, as a result of Wednesday’s announced financing transaction, it will remain operationally headquartered in the UK.
Arqit and BT today further announced that BT has entered into a contract to become Arqit’s exclusive reseller in the UK, incorporating their products into its wider portfolio of Security solutions. BT was a foundational research partner for Arqit in 2017, and the companies intend to extend their collaboration to find new ways to develop the UK’s quantum communications infrastructure.
Virgin, which has itself a long history of pioneering in aerospace technology, has invested via its Virgin Orbit subsidiary in the Arqit financing transaction as well as signing contracts to launch the first two Arqit satellites, possibly from Cornwall in the UK, targeted for 2023.
Arqit’s mission is to use transformational quantum encryption technology to protect the data of our governments, enterprises and citizens. Over the past four years, Arqit has invented and patented technology which substantially extends the ability to provide the benefits of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) to end point devices. QuantumCloud™ puts a lightweight agent at any end point device, which is able to rapidly create an unlimited number of symmetric keys with partner devices.
QuantumCloud™’s reach is due to be expanded further through the usage of pioneering satellite technology. Currently the symmetric keys used in data encryption are created terrestrially. However, by 2023 Arqit plans to launch two quantum satellites, which will build on established QKD protocols to extend the capability to both create and transmit a backbone of secure keys to the data centres of Arqit’s customers all over the world.