SK Telecom's 'Quantum Cryptography Technology' Adopted as European Standard

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Quantum encryption technology developed by SK Telecom has been adopted as an industry standard by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

SK Telecom announced on the 9th that the "Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)-based Network Integrated Management Specification Standard (ETSI GS QKD-018)" proposed by the company has been approved by the industry standards group under ETSI.

ETSI is a global standardization organization with over 900 member companies from more than 60 countries, mainly in Europe, covering all ICT fields including wired and wireless communications, radio, broadcasting, software, and ICT convergence technologies. The ETSI-affiliated organization "ISG (Industry Specification Group) QKD" has been leading quantum encryption standardization since 2008, when it first began developing standards for quantum key distribution worldwide.

The standard proposed by SK Telecom and approved by ETSI this time developed an interface standard (SDN Orchestration Interface) that incorporates software-defined networking (SDN) controlling quantum encryption communication into the integrated management of the entire network of telecommunications companies.

Accordingly, when telecom operators introduce quantum encryption communication networks, they can integrally manage networks composed of multiple equipment vendors and enable quantum encryption communication between equipment vendors.

In particular, this quantum encryption standardization proposal is even more significant as it is based on the results of the "Interoperability Test of Quantum Key Distribution SDN between Heterogeneous Communication Equipment Vendors," a government national project (Digital New Deal) awarded to SK Telecom. SK Telecom plans to complete related demonstrations this month on the national testbed "KOREN" quantum test network.

Minyong Ha, Head of SK Telecom Innovation Suite, said, "The 'Quantum Encryption Communication' standard approved by ETSI this time is a case where technology developed through a government national project became a global standard. Taking this opportunity, we will strive to activate quantum encryption and continuously lead international standardization activities to foster the quantum encryption ecosystem."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.