DISCRETION is the name of the pioneer European project that seeks to develop state-of-the-art high security encryption solutions to be applied, for the first time, in Defense scenarios. These solutions must face new threats, capable of making military communications vulnerable, namely those arising from the emergence of quantum computers and their potential to break most of the encryptions used.
To this end, disruptive technologies such as Software Defined Networks (SDN) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) will be used to create a secure and resilient communications network for European military forces. Making use of existing optical networks, DISCRETION will enable to build a highly secure, scalable and resilient network for advanced tactical operational services.
Altice Labs, besides the involvement in the definition, design and validation of the entire solution, has a key role in the tasks related to the control (SDN) component of the solution, as well as in the coordination of the overall prototyping workgroup. This control will have to interact with the service and data, QKD (quantum key distribution control) and optical (optical network that interconnects everything) planes. As these are military applications, it will also have to meet demanding requirements in terms of robustness, reliability, scalability and security.
DISCRETION is led by Deimos and is being developed by an international team including Altice Labs, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Superior Técnico and Adyta from Portugal, Telefonica Investigación y Desarrollo and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid from Spain, Austrian Institute of Technology and Nextworks from Italy. The National Security Office and the General Staff of the Armed Forces also collaborated in drawing up the operational requirements of the project.
The meeting that served to kick off DISCRETION took place on the 12th of January in Lisbon, with the participation of the European Commission and representatives of the 4 Member States that support this project (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Austria), in addition to the institutions identified above. The project will be completed in May 2025.