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KIST and KT Launch the Quantum Communication Application Research Center (2017.06.21)
- Date : 2017-09-21
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International Cooperation Team
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KIST and KT Launch the Quantum Communication
Application Research Center
- Long-term collaboration into the commercialization of quantum encryption communication technology
On June 21, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and KT launched the Quantum Communication Application Research Center at the Korea Advanced Nano Fab Center (KANC).
The opening ceremony was attended by Dr. Chang Joonyeon, director-general of KIST’s Post-Silicon Semiconductor Institute; Dr. Jeon Hong-Beom, director of the KT Infrastructure Research Lab; and Dr. Lee Dae-hoon, CEO/president of KANC. The center aims to boost joint research and long-term partnerships among the institutes involved, and in turn, to commercialize quantum communication technology. The institutes even demonstrated a new quantum encryption communication system developed by KIST and tested on KT’s communication network.
The 4th Industrial Revolution, characterized as a hyper-connected society, necessitates innovative new forms of security. Quantum encryption is often thought to be the best way to maintain privacy and prevent wiretaps because, in theory, quantum media cannot be duplicated. Unlike contemporary encryption methods that can be broken by high-performance supercomputers or quantum computers, quantum encryption provides absolute security based on quantum mechanics. In reality, however, quantum encryption can still be hacked due to the limitations of communications devices, and this “quantum hacking” poses difficulties for commercializing quantum encryption technology.
To alleviate this problem, the Quantum Communication Application Research Center will perform the following: research quantum-hacking prevention; investigate the stability of long-term consecutive operations; establish a system for assessing such operations; design quantum encryption communications architecture; and discover applicable benchmarks. Test beds will be installed and operated at KIST’s Center for Quantum Information in Suwon, and at KT’s Institute of Convergence Technology in Seoul.
In 2005, KIST developed Korea’s first quantum encryption system, and, in 2013, it demonstrated it at QCrypt, an international conference on quantum cryptography. In 2016, KIST completed field tests on KT’s physical network, taking into account the potential impact of environmental changes like weather and temperature, as well as fluctuations in traffic due to the time of day.
Dr. Moon Sung Wook, leader of the Quantum Communication Application Research Center, stated, "We expect new technologies to eventually overcome the obstacles hindering the commercialization of quantum encryption communication technology, and this will lead to a new commercial paradigm.”