The Very Large Telescope's laser guide star opens a sodium beam over Paranal. · ESO · H. H. Heyer · CC BY 4.0
QCRNG
ResearchCryptographic randomness built for secure systems.
Every key your infrastructure depends on is drawn from a source of randomness. QCRNG is a hardware entropy source whose unpredictability comes directly from a quantum process.
For security, infrastructure and integration teams.
- Development status
- Research
- Layer
- SECURITY
- Code
- QCRNG
Quantum entropy source
A physical process whose measurement outcomes are fundamentally unpredictable.
Digitization
The analogue signal is sampled into raw bits while the source's bias and correlation are characterized.
Randomness extraction
Post-processing that converts a biased physical signal into a uniform output stream.
Continuous health testing
Online tests run against the raw source and stop output when a device degrades.
Key material
A uniform stream available to the systems that consume it, over a documented interface.
A flow diagram: a quantum entropy source feeds a digitizer, then randomness extraction and continuous health tests, producing a random bit stream used as cryptographic key material by a secure system.
- Entropy source
- Quantum process
- Status
- Architecture model
- Elapsed
- 0.0 s
Architecture visualization, illustrates the intended data path.
Why QCRNG
Cryptography inherits the weakness of its entropy.
A key is only as unpredictable as the source it came from. Weak entropy caused the best-known failures in deployed cryptography: devices generating keys before their pool had filled, virtual machines cloned along with their random state, generators seeded with almost nothing.
Deterministic generators depend on their seed
Expand a guessable seed and everything derived from it is guessable, including keys issued years later.
Devices generate keys when they are least random
Embedded and virtualized systems are asked for key material early in boot, before environmental entropy exists.
Entropy quality is hard to observe
A failing source keeps producing plausible-looking output. Without continuous health testing, degradation is silent.
Our approach
A physical source, measured continuously.
QCRNG draws entropy from a quantum process that is unpredictable by physical law. It extracts a uniform stream and watches the source with continuous health tests that close the output as soon as the source degrades.
Quantum entropy source
A physical process whose measurement outcomes are fundamentally unpredictable.
Digitization
The analogue signal is sampled into raw bits while the source's bias and correlation are characterized.
Randomness extraction
Post-processing that converts a biased physical signal into a uniform output stream.
Continuous health testing
Online tests run against the raw source and stop output when a device degrades.
Key material
A uniform stream available to the systems that consume it, over a documented interface.
Where it fits
Where a hardware entropy source fits.
The consumers of high-quality randomness are already in place in most infrastructure: they are just being fed by software today.
- Key generation in hardware security modules and key-management systems
- Session and certificate key material for high-volume TLS termination
- Seeding post-quantum key encapsulation and signature schemes during migration
- Long-lived key material for industrial and energy control systems
- Key generation on board spacecraft, as the security layer moves into orbit
Who it's for
- Cybersecurity
- Telecommunications
- Financial infrastructure
- Critical infrastructure
- Research
- Space systems
How this becomes part of the bigger system.
QCRNG is the base of the security layer. Hybrid key distribution builds on it, key generation on that, and quantum key distribution over an optical link closes the layer. Each step carries its own status on the roadmap, and QCRNG is where the work is today.
Braided channels across a basin floor in false colour. · Illustrative image
Early access
Tell us what your systems need.
Interfaces, throughput and form factor are defined alongside our first partners, which means they can be adapted to how your systems actually consume key material. If you operate at scale, engage now and we will evaluate together what fits.
We run a small design-partner program. Bring us a concrete requirement and we will assess scope, fit and timing with you, and say plainly where the product can be adapted to it.
dataztlan@dataztlan.com
FAQ
Why does randomness need dedicated hardware?
Because software generators can only expand a seed. That is adequate in many settings and inadequate exactly where it matters most: long-lived keys, high key-generation rates, and devices that must produce key material before much environmental entropy exists.
What does 'quantum' change here?
It changes where the unpredictability comes from. A quantum measurement outcome is physically unpredictable regardless of an attacker's resources. That distinction is the reason the source can be characterized and defended on physical grounds.
Can I buy one today?
QCRNG remains in engineering and is available through a small design-partner program, where interfaces and form factor can still be adapted to the partner's deployment. Tell us your delivery window and we will tell you what is realistic against it.
Is this a space product or a terrestrial one?
Terrestrial first. The same entropy source is the foundation of the orbital security layer later, but the first deployments are on the ground, where the requirement already exists.
Will it be certified?
Certification is on the plan and is not complete. We will publish the standard, the scope and the date once there is something real to publish. If a specific certification is a procurement requirement for you, raise it early: it is one of the things a design partner can influence.
What does being a design partner involve?
A real requirement, a technical contact, and time to review interface decisions early. In return the specification is shaped around your deployment and you get access before general availability.