BT hails hollow-core fibre trials as 'critical advancement' for secure communications

BT is claiming bragging rights after completing trials of hollow-core fibre (HCF) cable at its labs at Adastral Park in Suffolk, England. The new cable – Nested Anti-Resonant Nodeless hollow-core fibre (NANF) to give it its full name – was developed and manufactured by Lumenisity, a Hampshire business set up in 2017 and spun …

[steelpillow]

For those who care, the benefit of hollow fibre for quantum communications is that empty space has no atomic defects. Glass, like any solid material, generally does and these defects badly degrade the quantum signal - I believe through a phenomenon known as decoherence, but don't quote me on that.

[Eclectic Man]

Empty space may lack atomic defects, but the hollow fibre is probably 'filled' with air. Even so this makes it far better at transmitting light than glass.

[Twitchy Eye]

Behemoth telco polishes vanity project while we all stay stuck on copper

Seriously, stop it....

Why not research a way to make FTTP more accessible or provide better protection for your customers. Still acting like a state monopoly after all these years, BT research was once a fine thing, now it is irrelevant intellectual masterbation.

If I wrote a list of 1000 things BT could do to improve information security, quantum key distribution would be in 1000th place

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Behemoth telco polishes vanity project while we all stay stuck on copper

Hardly.

FTTNCAR (Fibre To The Nearest Cabinet And Run) preserves monopoly income. Policy: BLOCK FTTP WITH EVERY FIBRE (sic) OF YOUR BEING.

Quantum security = trip to Patent Office = UK Gov Unlimited Profit Gravy Train. Policy: FLAUNT QUANTUM CAPABILITY WITH EVERY DITTO, DITTO, DITTO.

[Inventor of the Marmite Laser]

"networks are becoming software-driven and prone to attacks."

It's not like BT have Phorm for attacking network traffic.

[JonGodfrey]

I get the need for R&D and IPR but... 47th fastest broadband in the world.. BT bleeding 2012 infrastructure

[James O'Shea]

Nasuni ad

I am, for once, looking at El Reg without an ad-blocker. Currently there is an ad from some company named 'Nasuni' at the top of this comments page. I find this ad... intriguing. It shows what appears to be a cobra, hood and all, with the banner "When ransomware strikes, we're the antivenom." The problem is that the cobra in the ad appears to have the hinged fangs typical of vipers in general and pit vipers in particular, which don't have hoods. Cobras have short, fixed, fangs. If they can't get something that simple right, why should I trust them with being able to defend against something as complex as ransomware? Bad admen. Bad.

Now, where's my ad-blocker got to?