As the possibility that encrypted data captured today could be decrypted by future quantum computers begins to enter telecom boardroom discussions, network connectivity provider Ciena is stepping up efforts to align its optical infrastructure with post-quantum cryptography standards.
At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI)-led capacity expansion remains the company’s immediate priority, Gautam Billa, VP of Sales Engineering and CTO, Asia Pacific, Japan and India at Ciena, told FE in an interaction.
Billa described quantum as a security layer that operators cannot afford to ignore given the long lifecycle of fibre infrastructure. “You could capture the data today and break it tomorrow,” he said, referring to the risk that quantum computing could eventually compromise current encryption systems.
Ciena, he added, already supports post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standards and is building quantum-safe capabilities into its networking products.
Larger infrastructure cycle
However, quantum preparedness forms only one part of a much larger infrastructure cycle which is underway now. Billa said that the AI-driven buildout is unfolding in two phases. The first phase involves the creation of large models, compute clusters and the underlying infrastructure, including power, storage and networking.
The second phase, he said, will revolve around inference, enterprise applications and monetisation of those investments. “For now, we are right in the middle of the infrastructure build,” he said.
That infrastructure demand is materially different from previous telecom upgrade cycles. Ciena is seeing what Billa termed a ‘step-function increase’ in required network capacity. Where operators previously sought tens or even 100 terabits of capacity, current requirements are moving into petabit-scale deployments, largely to connect distributed AI data centres.
On the technology front
On the technology front, the company recently introduced 1.6 terabit-per-second modems, which are currently being deployed.
Optical networks depend heavily on photonic components and modem capability to drive large-scale data movement, and higher-capacity modems allow operators to increase throughput without proportionately expanding physical fibre infrastructure.
Ciena is working with service providers and hyperscalers under a Managed Optical Fibre Network (MOFN) model. Under this structure, hyperscalers partner local telecom operators to build and manage fibre networks, rather than directly owning and deploying all assets themselves. Here, Ciena supplies the optical systems that enable these deployments.ts.