Imagine the internet's backbone as a highway. This project makes that highway much wider to carry more data, uses smarter traffic lights to cut down on electricity, and adds a high-tech security vault to stop hackers. It basically replaces old, power-hungry equipment with smarter light-based switches that don't need to convert signals back and forth.
Current optical networks suffer from high power consumption, expensive electronic conversions, and vulnerability to quantum-computing-based security threats.
An end-to-end sliceable optical architecture featuring smart coherent transceivers, transparent photonic switches, and an AI-driven orchestration system.
If you are an ISP dealing with skyrocketing energy bills and data congestion — this project developed a network architecture that provides > 25% savings in power and cost while supporting 1 Pbt/s fiber systems.
If you are a security firm dealing with the threat of quantum computing breaking current codes — this project developed quantum-resistant cryptography and physically unclonable functions to secure data transfers.
If you are a data center operator dealing with high latency and expensive electronic conversions — this project developed transparent photonic switches that eliminate OEO conversions to lower the total cost of ownership.
The project targets a reduction in total cost of ownership and power consumption by over 25% through the simplification of network architecture and the removal of electronic intermediate terminations.
The system aims for 10 Tb/s for optoelectronic devices and 1 Pbt/s for optical fiber systems.
Based on available project data, the results will be disseminated in journals and conferences, but specific licensing terms for the developed quantum-resistant cryptography and photonic switches are not listed.
It uses AI/ML algorithms for a zero-touch networking system that handles self-diagnosing, provisioning, and healing of the network autonomously.
The project period runs from 2023-01-01 to 2026-06-30, suggesting that commercial readiness will follow the final demonstrations in mid-2026.
The consortium is heavily industry-weighted with 13 industrial partners (50% of the total), including 5 SMEs, which indicates a strong push toward commercial viability. With 26 partners across 10 countries, the project combines academic research (8 universities, 5 research centers) with practical manufacturing and deployment expertise.
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung
Contact us to connect with the ALLEGRO consortium for early adoption of quantum-secure optical networking.
