Prisco sees enormous opportunity in creating a test bed for the quantum internet in New York City, the world’s financial center

(Forbes) John Prisco, Security CEO and Founder of Safe Quantum Inc., explains the value of quantum technology will be to develop secure, hack-proof communications. Prisco says “To fulfill this dual destiny of combining speed and security, businesses around the world must join in efforts designed to build a quantum internet”. Inside Quantum Technology summarizes for our readers.
In introduction, Prisco explains “The quantum internet is expected, one day, to be a network similar to the present-day internet, but it will connect quantum devices linked via a fiber optic network, not radio waves.”
Prisco explains that security is why this is so vital. One major step toward securing a quantum internet is Quantum Key Distribution, or QKD, a technology that uses quantum physics to secure the distribution of encryption keys. Designed as a way to share sensitive information — data or communications — it assembles a photonic encryption key from individual photons and sends that key to a remote location over optical fiber.
Yet for a true quantum internet, connecting businesses and people and their data across the world, the focus must be on developing quantum memory and quantum repeaters.
With these technologies, businesses can begin to see the vision of a quantum internet. But they’re not going to develop these capabilities on their own. Even innovators of the classical internet are no doubt looking for a test bed with all these components in place to conduct investigations of the future quantum internet operation.
There are multiple academic and research test beds already. For example, there is one in Delft, The Netherlands, and the Advanced Quantum Testbed (AQT) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Prisco sees an enormous opportunity to create a test bed in the world’s financial center: New York City. A test bed linking technology, data center and corporate collaborators could demonstrate quantum memory and quantum repeater functionality over longer distances.
The fiber conduits are in place, collocation space for the requisite telecommunications equipment is readily available and there is the availability of the world’s financial services leaders to spearhead the quantum charge.