Quantum talk with Telecom Infra Project.
Ahead of our trip to Mobile World Congress this week, Chris spoke to June Shin McCarthy, Manager of the TIP Ecosystem Acceleration Centres (TEAC). TEAC is part of the global Telecom Infra Project (TIP) initiative that aims to shake up the traditional approach to building and deploying telecoms network infrastructure. The ‘ecosystem acceleration centres’ host start-ups backed by a $170m (£135m) London investment fund. The centres, at Adastral Park and in London’s Tech City, are run by BT and give start-ups like us direct collaboration with leading experts from BT, the TIP community and Facebook.
Q. In a nutshell, what technology solution does KETS offer?
Data security is critical to a wide variety of customers including defence, telecoms, and critical infrastructure; bringing with it end-users from finance, government, and data centres. KETS offers secure communications using future-proof, scalable, and easily-deployed hardware. The team has developed the world’s first integrated, on-chip quantum secured encryption technologies – from quantum random number generators to full quantum key distribution devices.
Q. Why are these technologies important?
You and I actually use encryption every day, from paying for your coffee on your card to logging into your email and bank account. You can find uses from finance, to medical records, to critical infrastructure. Security of information technology is one of the key problems we believe will define the next evolution in IT. Even as machine learning, AI, and a myriad of other technologies crowd the spotlight, fundamentally if you can’t communicate securely you’re very limited in your applications. And on a personal level, we think everyone deserves the right to privacy.
Q. Tell us about your team
Philip Sibson, our CTO & Co-Founder, is arguably the world leader in integrated photonic systems for quantum communication. He is the lead developer behind the world’s first chip-to-chip QKD demonstration and the main inventor on both of KETS’ patents. Jake Kennard, our Technical Sales Lead & co-founder is busy educating potential customers on their need for KETS technology. Jake has in-depth technical knowledge and many years of experience in integrated photonics. Our Director of Operations, Caroline Clark, is driving KETS’ multiple projects forward and helping us to build our business systems. We also work with a non-executive director, Claudio Marinelli whose advice has been invaluable on our journey so far.