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ID Quantique (IDQ) is a company offering products in the fields of quantum-safe cryptography, scientific instrumentation, and random number generation.
IDQ's headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland, with sales offices and research labs in Bristol, United Kingdom, Boston, USA, and Seol, South Korea.
The company was founded in 2001 by four scientists, including Nicolas Gisin, from the University of Geneva. Initially, it operated as a small university spin-off, working on research projects demonstrating the feasibility of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD).
In late 2003, IDQ developed it's first QKD products for data centers. From 2010 onwards IDQ rolled out quantum-safe crypto solutions in both commercial and government markets worldwide. In October 2013 IDQ received $5.6M in funding from investors Quantum Wave Fund.
In 2016 IDQ raised additional capital from SK Telecom, with whom they developed the world’s smallest Quantum Random Number Generator (RNG). In April 2018, ID Quantique raised $65M from SK Telecom to further develop quantum technologies for the telecom and IoT markets. Deutsche Telecom also invested in 2018.
IDQ offers QKD, quantum key generation, and quantum-safe network encryption. Their products have been used in a wide range of industries, including:
- Cloud and Data Centres
- Banking
- Defense
- Telecommunications
- Health
- Automotive
IDQ provides visible and infrared single-photon counters as well as timing electronics. These can sold as individual components or as part of a fully integrated solution for applications such as:
- Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer (OTDR)
- Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR)
- Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC)
IDQ began developing quantum random number generators in 2001. Standard RNGs are deterministic in nature and produce pseudo-random numbers. The fundamental randomness of quantum physics is ideal for the development of RNGs.
IDQ's quantum RNGs have been used in industries like:
- Banking
- Data Centers
- Gaming and Lotteries
- Cryptography
- Telecommunications
