IBM, Nokia top quantum-safe networking ranking

• TelecomTV conducted its second quantum-safe networking market perception survey
• More than 240 individuals from the telecom sector responded
• For the second time, IBM and Nokia were recognised as the leading developers of technology that will enable quantum-safe networking, but Google, Cisco and Toshiba made significant gains

IBM has retained its crown as the leading developer of technology that will enable quantum-safe networking, according to the results of a recent TelecomTV market perception survey of telecom professionals, with Nokia holding onto its position in second place. But others, including Google, Cisco and Toshiba, are gaining recognition as significant players in this increasingly important network security sector. 

The survey is designed to gauge how the industry views various trends and developments in the quantum-safe networking sector, which has seen a great deal of activity since TelecomTV conducted its first quantum-safe networking market perception survey in April 2024. 

The results of the survey, which was completed by 241 professionals from all over the world and from all corners of the telecom sector – 44% vendors, 29% network operators, 27% others, including analysts, industry organisations and enterprises – have been published in our latest DSP Leaders publication, the 14-page Quantum-Safe Networking Market Perception Report, which is free for anyone to download now. 

We did things slightly differently this year due to the major uptick in quantum-safe networking activity across the world. In early 2024, when we were formulating our initial set of survey questions, only a few network operators were discussing their quantum-safe networking strategies, trials and early deployments, and the number of tech companies engaging in any meaningful way with those operators was limited. As a result, when we asked our 2024 survey respondents about which companies they regarded as the market leaders in the development of technology that will enable quantum-safe networking, we offered up a single list of companies (a mix of network operators and technology developers) for consideration. 

Now, though, there are too many companies active in this sector for just one list, so this time around we asked our survey respondents to select the companies they deem to be the market leaders from two lists – one comprising vendors and developers and the other comprising network operators known by TelecomTV to be active in the quantum-safe networking sector. 

So this time around we asked our respondents a vendor-specific question: Which, if any, of the following companies do you recognise as leaders in the development of technology that will enable quantum-safe networking? 

We provided a list of suggestions and noted that respondents should select as many names as they deemed relevant. They were also asked to suggest additional names of companies that they deemed to be vendor market leaders in this field. Some of our respondents didn’t select, or suggest, any companies, but 216 did make at least one selection.

That IBM came out on top for the second year running should come as no surprise to anyone who follows the quantum computing and broader quantum technology sector. Not only does it have a long history of quantum computing R&D, it was also instrumental in the development of the initial quantum-safe encryption standards published last year – see NIST issues first three quantum-secure encryption standards.

In our 2024 survey, IBM secured votes from 51% of respondents, so with votes from 55% of this year’s survey-takers, its standing has even improved. 

Nokia also improved its standing with our respondents – in this year’s survey it attracted votes from 44% of our respondents, compared with 41% last year. During the past year it has engaged with SK Broadband in South Korea, Turkcell, Colt and Honeywell, Numana and Honeywell in Canada (and more) on quantum-safe deployments and developments. 

Google (35%) takes the bronze medal this year, which is a big step up from last year, when it was suggested by just a handful of our respondents. That’s also the case for Cisco, which came fourth this time around, with votes from 34% of our respondents after just a few mentions from last year’s respondents. 

Toshiba, which has been working with BT on the UK telco’s commercial quantum-safe networking service offering for a few years already, and which was recently named as a key tech partner for a service launch by Orange Business in France, secured votes from 32% of those who completed this part of the survey, a massive leap from just 15% last year.     

Another 16 vendors and technology developers, including the likes of Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), IonQ (ID Quantique), Nvidia, Qualcomm and Ericsson,  secured meaningful votes from our respondents, while a further 10 were suggested by some of our respondents – you can see the full list and ranking order in the report.

One company worth calling out from our results is London, UK-based quantum-safe encryption technology developer Arqit Quantum: It wasn’t included in our list of suggested vendors, but was identified by 5% of our respondents as a company worthy of being deemed a leader. It has engaged with Telecom Italia’s soon-to-be-divested international networking unit Sparkle to test the provision of quantum-safe network-as-a-service (NaaS) and quantum-safe VPN (virtual private network) services and in April this year signed a three-year deal with an unidentified telco that operates 600,000 kms of fibre and has operations in 32 countries (though based on the details provided, and the history of the relationship, that telco is certain to be Sparkle). 

The survey also included questions about the expected timelines of network operator deployments of quantum-safe networking technologies and, of course, the identity of the telcos that are deemed to be the sector’s pioneers. 

The Quantum-Safe Networking Market Perception Report, the 20th free-to-download DSP Leaders Report, is available now: You can find all of our reports here. 

You can find our coverage of all the latest quantum technology-related developments impacting the telecom sector on this dedicated TelecomTV page.   

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV