en.Wedoany.com Reported - The QUARTERNEXT project has officially launched, funded by Europe, aiming to develop quantum-secure communication technology into certifiable industrial-grade systems. The project brings together six leading organizations from Spain, Austria, and the Netherlands, with the goal of maturing quantum technologies for widespread commercial applications and obtaining formal certification according to stringent European standards.
The consortium, coordinated by Luxquanta, includes four SMEs specializing in quantum technologies, photonic integrated components, and cybersecurity for the quantum era (Luxquanta, Quside, Chilas, and fragmentiX), as well as Telefónica and the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT). The project directly aligns with the EU's EuroQCI initiative, which aims to interconnect member states through highly secure quantum networks.
The consortium will focus on developing next-generation Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution (CV-QKD) systems and core components. Key technology milestones include: advanced hardware, integrating narrow-linewidth lasers and high-performance quantum random number generators into compact, deployable devices; intelligent software, developing software-defined key management systems for secure and scalable key distribution in complex networks; information-theoretic security, implementing advanced secret sharing devices to provide an unbreakable security layer for protecting data at rest; and a coexistence framework, designing an integrated framework allowing quantum and classical data channels to seamlessly coexist on existing fiber optic infrastructure, reducing deployment costs for telecom operators.
Certification is central to the QUARTERNEXT mission. The consortium will collaborate with Nostradamus, a European initiative to establish testing, evaluation, and certification infrastructure for quantum-secure systems, providing hardware and software as primary test vehicles. Beyond laboratory validation, the project will test progress under real-world deployment conditions, verifying multi-vendor interoperability through the live telecom network environment represented by Telefónica's TEFQCI quantum communication infrastructure, and building the evidence base required for deployment compliant with European security standards. The project builds on the success of QUARTER, a previous three-year European initiative that successfully validated QKD integration in operational environments such as finance, healthcare, cloud infrastructure, and data centers. QUARTERNEXT builds further on this foundation, targeting reliability and security validation as well as formal certification.
Within each partner's technology roadmap, Luxquanta, as project coordinator, will advance the security of CV-QKD protocols and provide certifiable systems meeting end-user and EuroQCI requirements. Quside will enhance its QRNG technology for advanced cryptographic applications and validate its integration within the consortium ecosystem. Chilas will adapt its tunable narrow-linewidth photonic laser sources for embedding in quantum-secure applications. fragmentiX will develop certified secret sharing devices with higher data rates, improved quantum randomness, and standardized QKD key delivery interfaces. Telefónica will lead the evolution of software-defined networking (SDN) architectures for quantum communications, ensuring alignment with operational telecom requirements and standards, and validating through use case scenarios in the TEFQCI production environment. AIT Austrian Institute of Technology will advance its key management system and software-defined networking suite for QKD networks, while conducting advanced security testing and vulnerability assessments on the QKD layer.
To strengthen European technological sovereignty and secure critical supply chains, the consortium is committed to developing EU-made quantum communication components. QUARTERNEXT will directly align with European initiatives such as PIXEurope, an EU pilot line for advancing photonic integrated circuits under the Chips Joint Undertaking, thereby reducing dependence on non-European technologies.
