Navigating the Post-Quantum Future: Insights from ETSI’s Quantum Safe Cryptography Conference and VIAVI’s Role in Performance Testing
I had the opportunity to attend the ETSI Quantum Safe Cryptography Conference in Madrid recently, a gathering that brought together global leaders in cryptography, telecom, finance, and cloud to discuss the path to a quantum-safe future. The event was rich with technical insights, but more importantly, I had the chance to connect with key stakeholders shaping the post-quantum cryptography (PQC) landscape.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
The PQC Market: A Shift from Theory to Implementation
The urgency around PQC is no longer theoretical. With NIST’s standardization process nearing completion and increasing regulatory pressure, industries are moving from awareness to action. However, as Aritar Banerjee from Nokia aptly noted in his presentation, “with greater security comes higher performance costs.”
Angela Dupont from BIS presented a very interesting white paper on quantum proofing the financial system, in which she outlined recent testing performed on quantum-safe financial transactions between two central banks. The results showed that performance was impacted when setting up the tunnel due to the additional layer of cryptography. However, what was not tested was scale, key rotations, and network impairment – all of which need to be addressed before financial institutions can be assured that their day-to-day transactions will continue unaffected when quantum-proofed.
Jaime Gomez Garcia from Santander bank gave a compelling talk titled “Multivendor, Multiprotocol Quantum-Safe IPSEC Dynamic Multipoint VPNs in a Bank Network”, in which he covered issues such as increased latency at set up and gave a deep dive into the IKEv2 Security Association Establishment process. Prior to PQC, this process takes just 38 milliseconds. After PQC, it takes 12,626 milliseconds, marking a huge jump in latency.
These sentiments echoed throughout the conference from banks to mobile operators to cloud providers, highlighting a critical gap: how do we test and validate the performance of PQC in real-world environments?
Where VIAVI Comes In
At VIAVI, we see performance testing as the critical missing link in the transition to PQC. As organizations adopt quantum-safe algorithms, they encounter new challenges including increased latency at set up, increased protocol complexity, and the need for scalable, vendor-neutral test environments.
TeraVM is the first cloud-enabled test platform to support PQC algorithms selected by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). With TeraVM Security Test, organizations can benchmark the performance of enterprise devices, content delivery networks, and endpoints initiating or terminating IPSec or TLS traffic using PQC.
This software-based tool runs on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) servers or cloud platforms, offering flexibility and scalability. Trusted by network equipment manufacturers, operators, and research institutions, TeraVM is proven in testing both security compliance and the performance impact of security layers.
What’s Next?
PQC migration is currently a hot topic with roadmaps being drafted. While a lot is still unknown about PQC, it is clear that the transition will present a performance and scalability challenge. As the industry moves toward implementation, VIAVI is ready to be the partner of choice for testing, validation, and assurance. Whether it’s through participation in regulatory pilots, collaboration with standards bodies, or direct engagement with enterprises, we’re committed to helping the world transition to a quantum-safe future, securely and efficiently.
If you’re exploring PQC and want to understand how it will impact your network or application performance, get in touch with us!
