A Malta-wide quantum communications testbed has officially been established over existing telecommunications infrastructure.
The PRISM network was developed in the spirit of the EU’s EuroQCI’s declaration, which targets a Europe-wide quantum-secured network by 2030 to boost the security of communications.
PRISM brought together RSM Malta, Merqury Cybersecurity, the University of Malta, Melita, UMNAI, the Malta Information Technology Agency and the Ministry for Home Affairs, Security and Employment through the Critical Infrastructure Protection Department.
The testbed provided practical experience in integrating and operating quantum key distribution technologies within a national network environment.
The consortium developed, integrated and tested hardware and software for QKD, key management, network control and monitoring, while exploring how these technologies can support communications involving government, telecommunications, research, education, data-centre and critical-infrastructure environments.
Malta also engaged with European authorities, technology providers and other national QCI initiatives from other EU countries.
Several milestones demonstrated the testbed’s development from an initial link into a wider operational environment.
These included a video call secured using keys supplied through quantum key distribution; the public demonstration of the first PRISM link; a quantum-secured test network between MITA’s two government data centres; and the extension of Malta’s testbed to Sicily over existing submarine telecommunications infrastructure.
The Government data centre testbed was subsequently used to simulate protected backup traffic with synthetic data.
The use case exceeded 1,000 hours of continuous operation and provided measurable information on encrypted test traffic, key generation and key consumption without using sensitive live government data.
Project coordinator RSM Malta said that PRISM’s completion reflects the sustained cooperation of seven Maltese organisations, each contributing distinct expertise to a shared national objective.
“The project has combined coordination, research, telecommunications infrastructure, software development, public-sector experience, education and outreach to stablish a strong foundation for Malta’s continued participation in Europe’s quantum future,” it said.
As technical lead, Merqury Cybersecurity highlighted that PRISM has shown what can be achieved when research, industry and the public sector work together to address a complex technological challenge.
“Malta now has practical experience of integrating quantum communication technologies across a national testbed and applying them to realistic network and data-centre scenarios,” Merqury said.
Alongside the technical programme, PRISM also invested extensively in education, skills development and public awareness, coordinating activities such as public seminars, demonstrations, educational talks, sector-specific briefings, PRISM Hackathon, PRISM Business Breakfast, PRISM Quantum Week, and the Quantum Communications Summer School.
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