• Sparkle and Hellas Sat have implemented quantum-safe IPsec protection on a Greece-Cyprus GEO satellite link spanning about 72,000km
  • The deployment extends an earlier terrestrial QSI test, while commercial rollout across more routes and customers remains unproven

The fact

Sparkle and Hellas Sat said on 2 September that they had implemented a quantum-safe satellite connection between Greece and Cyprus. The link connects Sparkle's data centre in Metamorfosis, Athens, with Hellas Sat infrastructure in Cyprus through a geostationary satellite. The companies put the full satellite path at about 72,000km, including the uplink and downlink.

The deployment uses Sparkle's Quantum Safe Interconnect, or QSI, which provides quantum-safe key delivery and automated key rotation over an IPsec connection. It follows a proof of concept completed in March between two data centres in Greece.

The latest deployment shows that the same QSI approach can operate over a satellite path as well as a terrestrial connection. Hellas Sat said the work provides a basis for evaluating commercial quantum-safe satellite services, but the companies have not announced a broader rollout or named a commercial customer.

The assessment

Sparkle had already tested QSI between data centres. The Greece–Cyprus link shows that the same system can also protect traffic when part of the route travels over a geostationary satellite. That gives Sparkle a wider range of networks on which it can use the service.

This could matter for customers that rely on fibre for some locations and satellite for others. In principle, they could use the same approach to encryption and key management across both instead of maintaining separate security systems. So far, however, Sparkle and Hellas Sat have shown this on only one satellite route.

For BTW readers, the next question is whether this can become a repeatable service rather than remain a technical demonstration. A named customer deployment, followed by more routes using the same setup, would show whether Sparkle and Hellas Sat can move from testing to commercial use.

What to watch

Watch for the first commercial customer using QSI over satellite and for additional routes or sites beyond Greece and Cyprus. Disclosures on deployment time, key rotation and integration with existing security systems would show whether the approach can be repeated as a standard service rather than built separately for each connection.