The Age of Quantum Communications is Here. Are You Ready?

It seems that the race to quantum supremacy is over as China announces it will soon be rolling out the first ever unhackable computer network in the world. Dubbed as the Jinan Project, China’s quantum computer network boasts of an impressive quantum hub located in Beijing, Jinan and Shanghai which will be set to launch and available to consumers by the end of August. Quantum computing technology has always been the dream goal of researchers around the world, and this will be the first time its functions will be available commercially. In the business of communication, quantum technology is meant to protect data and ensure the confidentiality of information at the point of transfer.

This achievement is considered a major event in light of the recent threats of global wide hacking that puts critical personal, financial, business, government and military information in a vulnerable situation. With quantum technology used for communication, information is transformed into a quantum state of photons which is impossible to clone. Any attempt to illegally access the data will send warning signals to its users by generating an error code notifying of a security breach. The research team from Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology began their network testing in May to make sure that the system forms more than 4000 codes per second to achieve the ideal quantum state that is able to protect information from being copied.

Zhou Fei, Assistant Director for the institute expressed his high hopes for the success of the project’s pilot run and is looking forward to its application. In his interview with Financial Times, he highlighted the fact that as soon as the system is up and running, it will be initially integrated within the networks used for government affairs, national defense, the financial sector, power sector and other fields.

The success of China’s quantum communications technology ushers in a new era of faster and safer information processing unparalleled by any computer commercially available for now. It opens the door to applications that will provide even faster information exchange that are only limited by how ready and how soon our science can adapt. Regardless of the answer, there is no doubt that China’s achievement in information security will be one of its greatest contributions to the world.