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Insider Brief

• Orange Business and Cisco have launched post-quantum cryptography (PQC)–secured network services on Orange’s global infrastructure to protect enterprise and public-sector data from future quantum threats.
• Orange Business is the first European service provider to offer PQC-secured global WAN services using Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers, with managed Cisco SD-WAN PQC services planned for commercial availability in Q3 2026.
• The collaboration focuses on crypto-agile, centrally managed SD-WAN architectures designed to mitigate “harvest now, decrypt later” risks as quantum computing advances.

PRESS RELEASE — Orange Business and Cisco are announcing today their collaboration on Post-Quantum Cryptography- (PQC) secured solutions over the Orange Business global network infrastructure. This provides customers, from enterprises to public sector, with long-term protection against future quantum attacks for their network traffic.

Orange Business is the first European service provider to announce PQC-secured global network services based on Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers. These are specifically designed for the quantum era, providing robust, quantum-safe network connectivity. 

As of today, PQC-secured WAN services are available. PQC-secured Orange Business managed Cisco SD-WAN services are targeted for commercial availability in CY Q3 2026. Customers can trust that sensitive data moving across organizations, the cloud, and data centers remains secure, even against the threat of quantum computing.

As quantum computing advances, many widely used classical cryptographic algorithms will become increasingly vulnerable. This creates the risk that data intercepted today could be decrypted in the future, known as the “Harvest now, Decrypt Later” threat. Customers need to act now to avoid such exposure. PQC integrated into Cisco SD-WAN infrastructures is easy for customers to implement as a software feature – particularly as a managed service. It will help customers protect their data and operations against both current and future threats. 

PQC integrated into SD-WAN makes the SD-WAN infrastructure and its control and data planes quantum-safe, ensuring the way sites connect, authenticate, and exchange keys to remain secure. The benefit of PQC integrating into SD-WAN is that it future-proofs the entire WAN, not just individual tunnels. This gives customers a single, centrally managed, quantum-resilient WAN that can evolve as standards change.

The Latest Building Block in the Orange Quantum Defender Portfolio

PQC over Cisco SD-WAN is the latest addition in the Orange Quantum Defender range of solutions, reinforcing Orange’s leadership in quantum-safe networking. Orange is focused on preparing enterprise and critical infrastructure customers for the future impact of quantum computing by embedding post-quantum security into network security early, rather than viewing it as an upgrade later on. 

The Orange quantum-safe networking strategy emphasizes crypto-agility, ensuring that networks are designed to allow for the quick alteration or upgrade of cryptographic algorithms and protocols, thereby minimizing disruption and maintaining confidentiality over long data lifecycles. 

A Step-By-Step Approach

By taking a standards-aligned approach to quantum-safe networking with PQC over SD-WAN, Orange and Cisco are helping customers protect their operations and maintain customer trust in the future. The goal is to ensure that data communications and digital services remain secure, even as quantum security threats evolve, without requiring customers to undergo sudden, disruptive changes.

Jean-Noël is responsible for the product portfolio and engineering of connectivity, communication, collaboration, contact centers and professional services. He has more than 25 years of experience in the telecom industry. Prior to joining Orange Business, he was responsible for product innovation for B2B markets across Orange Group and has led leadership roles at Orange in service platforms, IT, B2B, marketing and business development.

Vikas leads product strategy, roadmap, and development for Cisco Routing and SD-WAN, Industrial Networking, Industrial Cyber Security, and Multicloud Networking. As networking and security become more tightly integrated, Vikas has led the implementation of an SD-WAN offering with comprehensive security built-in. Bringing all these technologies together with the Cisco Networking Cloud vision, Vikas is helping customers simplify, secure, and scale their businesses.