Company · London
Colt Technology Services, the global network operator, has been testing quantum-safe encryption on its own live infrastructure. A trial with Toshiba, Nokia, Adtran, Ciena and ID Quantique, completed in 2025, combined quantum key distribution, pre-shared keys and PQC on a 1,361 km route from London to Frankfurt and an 88 km metro span between London and Slough, with QKD running on the metro leg. In June 2026 Colt and Ciena sent live 800 Gb/s traffic over a 6,900 km New York to London path protected by post-quantum algorithms, and Colt now sells PQC, QKD and symmetric key services.
Founded in 1992, Colt Technology Services is a company in London focused on quantum communications, qkd and post quantum cryptography. It is a partner in 1 UK project: IQN.
Sources: Colt completes quantum secured encryption trial across optical network (Colt) · Colt and ID Quantique secure networks against quantum threats (Quantum Zeitgeist, June 2025) · Quantum-safe data moves at 800GbE between New York and London (Quantum Zeitgeist, June 2026)
IQN
A national research hub building quantum networks, from local links to satellite connections. Heriot-Watt University leads it.
Role: Partner
Funding: £21.9m
Themes: Networks, Communications
Recent articles from Quantum Zeitgeist that mention Colt Technology Services.
Colt & Ciena achieved the fastest transatlantic transmission of protected data, 800GbE between New York & London.
Image © Quantum Zeitgeist
Nokia introduces the world’s first 50G PON solution, offering ultra-fast, secure broadband connectivity for enterprises in the post-quantum era, seamlessly upgrading from 10G or 25G PON networks.
Image © Quantum Zeitgeist
Secure data against future quantum threats: Colt & ID Quantique’s trial achieved 99.9999% key transmission reliability over a live network.
Image © Quantum Zeitgeist
Research, commercial and investment relationships, by year. Partners with a profile here are linked.
Arqit Commercial 2026
Ciena Integration 2026
Eurofiber Strategic 2026
Honeywell Research 2026
Adtran Networks Integration 2025
ID Quantique Integration 2025
Nokia Integration 2025
Toshiba Quantum Integration 2025
Chosen by shared specialisms, then location and type.
Company · London · 4 shared specialisms
Start-up · London · 3 shared specialisms
Company · Glasgow · 3 shared specialisms
Company · Bristol · 3 shared specialisms
Company data from Entangled Future. News from Quantum Zeitgeist. Last checked 2 October 2026.
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