Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is proud to announce the launch of Quantum Communication Testbed (QuCT NL) a state‑of‑the‑art facility designed to accelerate research, innovation, and deployment of quantum-safe communication technologies.

As quantum computing capabilities rapidly advance, the cryptographic foundations of today’s digital infrastructure face unprecedented threats. The QuCT NL testbed responds to this challenge by providing a real-world environment for researchers, companies, and partners to experiment with quantum-safe communication technologies, including Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC).

Why Quantum-Safe Communication Matters

The rise of quantum computing poses a significant risk to current cryptographic protocols, potentially compromising sensitive data and critical communications. Transitioning to quantum-safe solutions is essential to safeguard national infrastructure, enterprise systems, and personal privacy.

“While the quantum computer is still in full development, we need solutions today to keep our current network connections secure,” says Marcel Menting, director of WeConnect Waalre. “With quantum keys, we're already taking a major step toward tomorrow's digital security.”

Safeguarding communications infrastructure and sensitive data against the quantum threat requires transitioning to quantum safe communications – QuCT NL is the place to explore quantum safe solutions, incl. QKD, and to test and verify devices, equipment, network protocols and configurations, and use cases.

“QuCT NL is a proving ground for quantum-safe communications in a real-world setting, while equipped with all the instrumentation to perform measurements as if it were a laboratory,” says dr. Simon Rommel, scientific director of QuCT NL and assistant professor at TU/e. “This allows us to demonstrate real use cases while employing and testing the latest technology developments. We are proud that QuCT NL is now up-and-running and open for business – we invite anyone working on QKD and quantum-safe communications to work with us.”

Testbed Infrastructure and services

QuCT NL provides QKD, PQC and classical networking integrated in a field-deployed infrastructure for test and development. The testbed connects TU/e campus and High Tech Campus (HTC) in Eindhoven, the Automotive Campus (AC) in Helmond as well as WeConnect in Waalre. The infrastructure comprises advanced QKD equipment, network encryptors and classical networking equipment, connected by dedicated fibre optic links and a parallel free space optics (FSO) link to HTC. The field-deployed network is complemented by advanced network monitoring and telemetry and the necessary instrumentation for evaluation of hardware, software and network protocols.

QuCT NL provides the facilities to take test and measurements from the laboratories to the real world and to evaluate and demonstrate quantum-safe communications in and for different use cases. The testbed is open for cooperation and to provide test and evaluation services to industry, research and academia and offers the capabilities for:

· Test and verification of QKD systems, incl. functional test and integration with common network encryptors.

· Test and evaluation of quantum-safe networking protocols and deployment options.

· Demonstration and evaluation of network and deployment scenarios based on customer specification or latest norms and standards.

· Test and evaluation of use cases requiring quantum safe communications and/or QKD.

· Validation and certification (planned) of QKD and related networking equipment.

This doesn’t happen in isolation. With partners such as Quantum Delta NL, EuroQCI, High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Automotive Campus, WeConnect Waalre, Connectie Brainport, and Eurofiber, the Netherlands is becoming a frontrunner in building the digital infrastructure of the future.

QuCT NL launched with a public event at TU/e on 26^th August 2025, bringing together experts and partners from research and industry and across the Netherlands and Europe. The launch event brought together the major stakeholders in the development of quantum-safe communications and QKD in the Netherlands and sent a clear call for further cooperation to boost the acceptance and accelerate the deployment of these technologies.

QuCT NL was partially funded by the European Commission as part of QCINed and was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ) on the QuantumDeltaNL National Growthfunds.

Source：https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/16-09-2025-tue-launches-quantum-communication-testbed-quct-nl-to-secure-the-future-of-digital-infrastructure