Photonic 'Firewall On A Chip' To Provide High Speed Data Security For Optical Networks

EU funding of 2 million Euros has been announced for a major new three-year project to develop a re-configurable photonic 'firewall on a chip'. Called WISDOM, (WIrespeed Security Domains Using Optical Monitoring), the new system will plug a major gap in the global data network security armoury - the lack of tools to implement security checks and algorithms directly at high optical data communications rates.

WISDOM will complement current electronic security techniques with optical information filtering operating at wirespeed, and is being developed by a consortium led by the UK's CIP.

"Optical technology lies at the heart of the global electronic and computer-based communications systems on which we are all increasingly reliant," says Graeme Maxwell of project co-ordinator CIP. "It's the key to very high data speeds and very large information handling capacity. But we are still reliant on conventional electronic tools for key functions such as legal intercept, flow classification and performance monitoring. WISDOM technology will provide a scaleable and robust solution to key issues of next generation network security by allowing close inspection of optical data directly in the optical domain."

The WISDOM project brings together a consortium that spans the optical networks supply chain, ensuring that the technology under development can be realised commercially, and will satisfy a real application need. Consortium partners are research institutions the Tyndall Institute (Ireland), the Foundation for Research and Technology, FORTH (Greece); optical component and sub-system fabricator CIP (UK), OEM system supplier Avanex (France), and network operator BT (UK).

The optical sub-systems that are being developed under WISDOM will take state-of-the-art hybrid integrated photonic technology and extend it to meet the performance requirements of a photonic firewall. The sub-systems will be based on the world-leading research on high-speed (greater than 40 Gigabits/second) optical logic gates and optical processing circuits provided by project partners Avanex, CIP and Tyndall.

In addition, this technical and scientific excellence is reinforced by the inclusion of the security application designers and end users of this technology, FORTH and BT, who are themselves pioneering the techniques used to provide network security and resilience.

SOURCE: The Centre for Integrated Photonics