Palm Beach State College (PBSC) and Florida Atlantic University (FAU) have activated the first operational link of Florida’s statewide quantum-safe network. Announced by PBSC President Ava L. Parker ahead of Quantum Beach 2026, the live link connects PBSC’s historic campus in downtown West Palm Beach to FAU’s main campus in Boca Raton over Palm Beach County’s dark fiber infrastructure.
Supported by a $1 million defense infrastructure grant from FloridaCommerce, the network deployment is executed in partnership with Florida LambdaRail (FLR), Palm Beach County, and trapped-ion quantum computing and networking developer IonQ (NYSE: IONQ). The link employs IonQ’s quantum key distribution (QKD) hardware and key management software to protect transmitted academic, scientific, and healthcare data against quantum eavesdropping and “harvest-now, decrypt-later” cyber threats.
| [ Florida Statewide Quantum-Safe Network Segment Overview ] | ||
|---|---|---|
| System Attribute | Deployment Parameter | Operational Function & Expansion Role |
| • Operational Link | • PBSC (West Palm Beach) ↔ FAU (Boca Raton) | • Live link operating over dedicated Palm Beach County dark fiber. |
| • Security Hardware | • IonQ Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) | • Hardware-level cryptographic key exchange with active physical-layer intrusion detection. |
| • Network Backbone | • Florida LambdaRail (1,540-mile footprint) | • Serves as the foundation to scale QKD across 13 member universities statewide. |
| • Near-Term Expansion | • Miami Dade College & FAU Jupiter Campus | • Extends into a ~100-mile South Florida quantum-secure research corridor. |
Expanding South Florida’s Quantum Corridor and Workforce Pipeline
The operational link marks the inaugural milestone of a broader Master Service Agreement signed between IonQ and Florida LambdaRail at eMerge Americas 2026, which envisions a continuous quantum-safe corridor of nearly 100 miles spanning from Palm Beach County down to Miami-Dade County. Within the next three months, the consortium plans to light additional nodes connecting Miami Dade College and FAU’s John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter, securing data pipelines between major biomedical research facilities including the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute and the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience.
Alongside network infrastructure, PBSC is expanding its academic programs through the forthcoming Quantum Innovation Center, which has secured nearly $7 million in funding. The institution is launching a Quantum Systems Certification Program in Spring 2027 and developing a two-year Associate in Science degree in quantum technology—established with an articulation pathway into FAU’s four-year degree programs—to train technicians in deploying, maintaining, and certifying quantum computing and quantum networking hardware.
Review the network launch announcement via PBSC News Center here and read the workforce panel summary on PBSC Quantum Beach Coverage here.
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