European QUARTERNEXT Consortium Advances Quantum-Safe Communication Systems

Insider Brief

• The QUARTERNEXT consortium has launched a European initiative focused on advancing quantum-safe communication technologies toward industrial deployment and certification.
• The project brings together six organizations from Spain, Austria, and the Netherlands to develop CV-QKD systems, quantum communication components, and supporting security infrastructure.
• QUARTERNEXT will work with European certification initiatives and telecom networks to test interoperability and support adoption of quantum-safe communications across critical infrastructure.

Press release – QUARTERNEXT, a European-funded consortium dedicated to advancing quantum-safe communication technologies toward certifiable, industrial-grade systems, has officially launched. Bringing together six leading organizations across Spain, Austria, and the Netherlands, the project aims to mature quantum technologies for widespread commercial adoption and secure formal certification under stringent European standards.

Coordinated by Luxquanta, the consortium unites four specialized SMEs (Luxquanta, Quside, Chilas, and fragmentiX) focused on quantum technologies, photonic-integrated components, and quantum-age cybersecurity, alongside with Telefónica, representing one of Europe’s leading telecommunications operators, and the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), Austria’s largest research and technology organization.

As quantum computing advances, protecting Europe’s sensitive digital infrastructure is a critical priority. QUARTERNEXT represents a vital step toward safeguarding these assets and directly aligns with the EU’s EuroQCI initiative to interconnect member states via highly secure quantum networks.

The consortium will focus on developing next-generation continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) systems and core components, with key technical milestones that include:

• Advanced Hardware: Integrating narrow-linewidth lasers and high-performance quantum random number generators (QRNGs) into compact, deployment-ready devices.
• Intelligent Software: Developing software-defined key management systems to enable secure, scalable key distribution across complex networks.
• Information-Theoretic Security: Implementing advanced secret-sharing appliances to provide an unhackable layer of security for protecting data at rest.
• Coexistence Frameworks: Designing integration frameworks that allow quantum and classical data channels to coexist seamlessly over existing optical fiber infrastructure, minimizing deployment costs for telecom operators.

A Clear Path To Certification And Live Deployments

Certification is central to the QUARTERNEXT mission. The consortium will collaborate directly with Nostradamus — the European initiative establishing testing, evaluation, and certification infrastructure for quantum-safe systems — by providing hardware and software as primary test 

vehicles. Beyond laboratory validation, QUARTERNEXT will test its advancements under real-world deployment conditions. By demonstrating multi-vendor interoperability in live telecom networks environments, validating interoperability across vendors, demonstrating operation in live telecom network environments represented by Telefónica’s TEFQCI quantum communication infrastructure, and building the evidence base required for deployment in line with European security standards.

The project builds directly on the success of QUARTER, a three-year European initiative that successfully validated QKD integration across operational environments in finance, healthcare, cloud infrastructure, and data centers. QUARTERNEXT advances that foundation further, targeting reliability and security validation, as well as formal certification, to establish quantum-safe communications as a permanent feature of Europe’s critical infrastructure.

Consortium Partner Contribuions

Each partner brings a distinct capability to the consortium’s technical roadmap:

• Luxquanta: QUARTERNEXT project coordinator, will advance the security of CV-QKD protocols and deliver a certifiable system aligned with end-user and EuroQCI requirements.
• Quside: will enhance its QRNG technology for advanced cryptographic applications and validate its integration across the consortium’s ecosystem.
• Chilas: will adapt its tunable, narrow-linewidth photonic laser sources to be embedded in the quantum secure applications of QUARTERNEXT.
• fragmentiX: will develop a certified secret-sharing appliance with higher data rates, improved quantum randomness, and standardized QKD key-delivery interfaces.
• Telefónica: will lead the evolution of the software-defined networking (SDN) architecture for quantum communications, ensuring alignment with operational telecom requirements and standards, and validating them through use-case scenarios in the TEFQCI production environment, all in line with its purpose of being the best gateway for companies to access digital technologies
• AIT Austrian Institute of Technology: will advance its Key Management System (KMS) and Software-Defined Network (SDN) suite for QKD networks, while conducting advanced security testing and vulnerability assessments of the QKD layer.

Strengthening European Sovereignty In Photonics

To strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty and secure its critical supply chains, the consortium is committed to developing EU-made quantum communication components. QUARTERNEXT will align directly with European initiatives such as PIXEurope (the EU Pilot Line advancing photonic integrated circuits under the Chips Joint Undertaking), reducing dependence on non-European technologies in a domain vital to national and economic security.