Viasat and Vodafone join state-backed initiative in UK; Telefónica Germany, Telefónica Tech and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid join forces with AWS in Spain
First up, the UK. Seven businesses have joined the Digital Catapult’s latest quantum innovation accelerator. The plan is to speed up the development of solutions and their practical application for sectors including transport, defence and telecoms, while removing risk through supporting consultancy.
McKinsey reckons quantum technology could contribute up to $450 billion to the global economy by 2040. The Catapult claims its work will play a key role in scaling solutions and increasing investors’ confidence in “early stage deep tech”.
The Quantum Technology Access Programme is part of a wider project funded by Innovate UK, Quantum Data Centre of the Future. It was set up to embed a quantum computer in an ordinary data centre to explore real-world access to quantum technologies. Partners include ORCA Computing, Riverlane and PQShield.
The organisers say the inaugural programme saw a 26% boost in confidence about quantum computing from firms such as Rolls Royce, Airbus and the Port of Dover.
Now seven more companies have joined the endeavour. Through its participation, Vodafone is to explore use cases to address complex telecoms challenges, including the NP-Hard Steiner Tree problem which could optimise networks by finding the most efficient way to connect multiple points. The operator group provides mobile and fixed services to more than 330 million customers in 15 countries, partners providers of mobile networks in 45 more and has one of the world’s largest IoT platforms.
The other six new member are:
- Autonomia – is a technology start-up specialising in the development of intelligent software solutions for mobility and energy ecosystems.
- BAE Systems – a global defence and security company
- Origami Labs UK – works on AI and autonomy technologies to speed turning invention into deployable capabilities.
- SIMULEX – an R&D startup working on how to integrate hydrogen into carbon capture and storage, geothermal, renewables and fossil sectors to accelerate energy’s transition through chemical and reservoir engineering.
- Viasat – a global satellite comms company offering broadband and secure networking.
- ZF Automotive UK – a global technology company offering mobility products and systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and industrial technology.
Spanish steps
Meanwhile, there’s plenty of activity in Spain regarding quantum tech too. Telefónica Deutschland (which operates under the brand of O2 Telefónica), AWS, parent company Telefónica with subsidiary Telefónica Tech, and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) are to run a joint pilot project.
It will investigate the possible use of quantum technologies in planning, optimising and securing mobile networks, for example, to calculate the best place to site towers in Munich (pictured, illustration courtesy of Telefónica Deutschland), and the use of QKD and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) to develop a quantum-safe networking strategy.
According to this detailed statement issued by the operator, the pilot will build on multiple strands of R&D concerning quantum technology explored over the last 10 years in Telefónica’s Technology and Automation Lab in Madrid.
This new phase, the participants says, represents one of the first coordinated efforts globally to test multiple quantum technologies in a cloud environment. Cloud trailblazer Mallik Rao, whose role was recently expanded when he become Chief Technology & Enterprise officer at O2 Telefónica, said, “We are entering the quantum age of digital networking. Quantum physics will enhance digital communication. With our pilot project, we are taking a significant step towards quantum-safe mobile networks of the future.
“We are creating the necessary conditions today to leverage quantum technologies and their possibilities in our O2 network for the benefit of our customers. SIM cards, text messages, and video calls for consumers, companies, and public authorities are secured with advanced security features in the 6G era.”
He continued, “The question is no longer whether quantum-based encryption will be required, but when. With this pilot project, we are looking ahead and testing the necessary technology in real-life use in the network today.
“We are implementing quantum technologies on AWS because they can be applied there more efficiently and quickly than building our own infrastructure. We can also combine quantum-safe connections more easily with the increasingly cloudified telecommunications services.”
Professor Vicente Martin, Director of the UPM research group on quantum information, added, “Quantum communications technology is extremely demanding due to the need to deal with single-quantum signals. This pilot shows how QKD [quantum key distribution] technology can be usefully integrated in a very complex production network to secure real-world use-cases.”
AWS hosts the operator’s 5G core system, developed by Nokia. The operator started to migrate 5G customers to the public cloud platform in May.
