Palm Beach State College and Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton are now connected by the first operational segment of Florida’s planned statewide quantum-safe network.
The link went live Oct. 15 and runs over Palm Beach County’s dark fiber infrastructure. Palm Beach State College is leading the initial project with Florida LambdaRail, FAU, Palm Beach County and IonQ, using IonQ’s quantum key distribution technology to secure encryption keys shared between the institutions.
The effort is supported by a $1 million defense infrastructure grant from FloridaCommerce. Quantum key distribution uses the physics of light to exchange encryption keys; according to the project description, an attempt to intercept a key disrupts it and can be detected.
The initial network segment is part of a larger South Florida corridor planned to extend nearly 100 miles from Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade County. Palm Beach State College said connections to Miami Dade College and FAU’s John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter are planned within the next three months.
The Jupiter campus also houses the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute.
Florida LambdaRail operates a 1,540-mile dark fiber network for 13 university partners and affiliates in research, education, health care and local government. A potential second phase would bring quantum-safe capabilities across that broader network, though further expansion depends on available funding.
