Chance plays a key role in start-up company's success

[Tyler Durden]

Well, as a research toy QC seems gee-wiz super cool.

I'm still not super-impressed by the current set of applications.

In particular, consider that random number generator. Although QM does 
indeed predict that experimental outcomes will be 'random', they are random 
within the weightings imposed by the measuring apparatus. In a sense, this 
is the perfect analog to the notion that, "Your crypto algorithm may be 
unbreakable, but your hard/software ain't."

Consider...I set up my random number generator to spit out a 1 every time a 
photon passes through a half-silvered mirror, and a 0 every time it 
reflects. Over time the silvering on the mirror is going to degrade, or 
perhaps it's already not perfect but you need a large number of 
'measurements' and/or analysis to begin to see it. In any event, your 
probabilities are going to shift over time, yielding an imperfect 
distribution of 0s/1s. Sure, it's still "random", but the probability 
density function is no longer useful for many applications.

Right now I can't see why this would be any more desirable than, for 
instance, grabbing the outcome of some distinctly nonlinear process, or 
perhaps many other approaches to RNG. The only thing this does is allow 
users/buyers to think their system is now free of any deep technical issues 
that may make classical systems insecure.

-TD

>From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
>To: cryptography at metzdowd.com, cypherpunks at al-qaeda.net
>Subject: Chance plays a key role in start-up company's success
>Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 11:09:03 -0400
>
><http://istresults.cordis.lu/popup.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&ID=70263&AutoPrint=True>
>
>  IST Results
>
>Chance plays a key role in start-up company's success
>
>Using randomly generated numbers to ensure the security of encryption
>applications seems counter-intuitive but is a fundamental part of quantum
>cryptography. Pioneering the approach is an award-winning Swiss start-up
>company, id Quantique, that launched the world's first commercial quantum
>random number generator and quantum cryptography system.
>
>  In fact, numerous applications require random numbers. Besides potential
>quantum cryptographic applications, such as bank transfers and e-voting,
>further examples include scientific calculations and games involving chance
>such as national lotteries. Initially though, id Quantique's products
>mainly target demand from customers of high security encryption systems
>such as financial, government and military institutions.
>
>  id Quantique was founded in October 2001 as a spin-off from the 
>University
>of Geneva by four researchers from the University's Applied Physics
>Department - Grigoire Ribordy, Olivier Guinnard, Nicolas Gisin and Hugo
>Zbinden. December 2003 marked a milestone in the company's evolution: the
>entrepreneurs successfully raised 1 million euros from the Luxemburg-based
>i2i venture capital fund in a first round of funding and they concluded a
>worldwide exclusivity agreement with the University of Geneva regarding two
>important quantum cryptography patents.
>
>  Over a short period of time, the fledgling company and its founders have
>won several prestigious prizes. The company was a recipient of the European
>Innovation Awards from the Wall Street Journal Europe in 2001; Olivier
>Guinnard and Grigoire Ribordy were winners of the de Vigier's prize for
>Swiss entrepreneurs in 2002; and this year the company was a winner of the
>annual Swiss Technology Award.
>
>  id Quantique supplies three products. Firstly, a physical random number
>generator, Quantis, which relies on an elementary quantum optical process -
>namely the perfectly random reflection or transmission of a photon, or
>light particle, on a semi-transparent mirror - in order to produce binary
>random numbers. Next, a quantum key distribution (QKD) system that enables
>cryptographic keys, which are required for encrypting and decrypting
>information, to be securely transmitted over standard optical fibres
>between two parties. Finally, a Single Photon Detection Module (SPDM), id
>200, which is a photon counter used in quantum cryptography and other
>quantum optical applications.
>
>  In March 2004, id Quantique and the University of Geneva launched the
>first ever website offering perfectly random numbers created by the Quantis
>generator. Grigoire Ribordy, id Quantique's CEO, remarks, "We launched the
>www.randomnumbers.info website to promote our new quantum random number
>generator and to provide a service to the scientific community. In the long
>term, we would like it to become the reference point for random numbers."
>
>  Despite the demand for perfectly random numbers, their generation remains
>a difficult task. Conventional computers use a rule to produce
>pseudo-random numbers, which can sometimes introduce unwanted bias.
>"Quantum physics is the only physical theory predicting that the outcome of
>certain phenomena is random," emphasises Nicolas Gisin, Professor at the
>University of Geneva. "It is thus a natural choice to use it to generate
>true random numbers."
>
>  id Quantique is a partner in the IST project SECOQC which began in April
>2004 under the Sixth Framework Programme. The project is focused on
>evaluating quantum cryptography technology as well as developing standard
>specifications for secure global digital communication systems.
>
>  Recently, the project consortium performed the world's first ever bank
>transfer using quantum cryptography by sending $3000 over a 1.45 km link
>between Vienna City Hall and the headquarters of Bank-Austria
>Creditanstalt. "The SECOQC project makes it possible for id Quantique's
>engineers to interact with some of the best groups worldwide in the field
>of quantum cryptography," observes Ribordy. "And because of the
>multidisciplinary nature of this project, it is an extremely enriching
>platform to exchange ideas and find new ways to solve problems."
>
>  More recently, id Quantique has teamed up with the Deckpoint, a Swiss
>Internet Service Provider, to develop and implement the world's first data
>archiving network secured using quantum cryptography. The official opening
>of the new archiving network took place on 29 September 2004 in the
>presence of Carlo Lamprecht, the Minister of Economy, Labour and Foreign
>Affairs of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. Data stored on a farm of 30
>servers at Deckpoint Housing Centre, in the middle of Geneva, was backed up
>to servers located at the Cern Internet Exchange Point, in the city suburbs
>some 10 kms away. "This world premiere is an excellent illustration of the
>of the potential of this technology " says Ribordy. "We are convinced that
>security has become critical, in particular with the implementation of the
>Basel II standards in the banking industry as of 2006," adds Dominique
>Perisset, Director of Deckpoint. "The economic world cannot afford anymore
>not to have a complete information security strategy."
>
>  Contact:
>Grigoire Ribordy
>Chief Executive Officer
>id Quantique SA
>Chemin de la Marbrerie, 3
>CH-1227 Carouge / Geneva
>Switzerland
>Tel: + 41-22-3018371/2
>Fax: + 41-22-3018379
>Email: gregoire.ribordy at idquantique.com
>
>Sources: Based on information from id Quantique
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Information :
>
>DATE :
>11 Oct 2004
>
>TECHNOLOGY AREA:
>
>  Trust/security
>
>
>MARKET APPLICATION:
>
>Electronics/IT manuf
>
>
>USEFUL LINKS:
>id Quantique website
>SECOQC project
>SECOQC factsheet on CORDIS
>www.randomnumbers.info website
>
>
>
>--
>-----------------
>R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
>The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
>44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

_________________________________________________________________
Dont just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! 
http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/