Network having quantum key distribution

1. A method of quantum key distribution between a first node and a second node over an optical network via a network path, the network path between the first node and the second node comprising at least one intermediate node, the method comprising:

agreeing a quantum key between the first node and each subsequent node in the network path in sequence until a quantum key is agreed between the first node and the second node, wherein

agreeing a quantum key between the first node and each subsequent node in the network path includes:

exchanging a quantum signal between a targeted node in the network path and the previous node in the network path, and

agreeing a quantum key between the first node and the targeted node based on the quantum signal, wherein,

when the first node is not itself involved in said quantum exchange, the first node communicates with the node previous to the targeted node in the network path such that the first node has the information necessary for agreeing a quantum key,

the communication between the first node and the node previous to the targeted node being encrypted using the quantum key established with the previous node.

2. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , wherein each node in the optical network comprises at least one apparatus capable of transmitting and/or receiving a quantum signal suitable for quantum key distribution.

3. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , wherein agreeing a quantum key between the first node and the targeted node further comprises authenticating the targeted node.

4. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , further comprising encrypting communications between the first node and the second node with the quantum key agreed between the first node and the second node.

5. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , wherein each node in the optical network comprises a crypto-unit.

6. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , wherein the network path between the first and second node comprises a plurality of intermediate nodes.

7. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , wherein agreeing a quantum key between the first node and the target node further comprises using shared secret values established between the first node and the targeted node to update at least one identity key shared by the first node and the targeted node.

8. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , further comprising an intermediate node storing a separate identity key for each node in the optical network that the intermediate node agrees a quantum key with.

9. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 7 , wherein each intermediate node does not store the identity keys stored by each adjacent intermediate node.

10. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , wherein the optical network is adapted for conventional optical communications.

11. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , wherein the optical network comprises at least one of the following:

an active switch; or

a passive optical switch.

12. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , further comprising:

the first node agreeing a quantum key with a plurality of different destination nodes within the optical network; and

the first node sending a traffic key to each of the destination nodes, wherein the first node uses the quantum key agreed with each of the destination nodes to establish the traffic key.

13. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 12 , further comprising one or more nodes in the network acting as a key manager.

14. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 13 , further comprising the one or more key manager providing, automatically or on request, the same traffic key to different nodes for communications across the network.

15. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 13 , wherein the optical network comprises a plurality of communities, each community including a plurality of nodes wherein each community has an associated key manager that distributes a community key to the nodes within that community by quantum key distribution.

16. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , wherein each node transmits and receives at separate times a quantum signal via an optical link to adjacent nodes in the optical network.

17. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 1 , wherein exchanging the quantum signal between the targeted node in the network path and the previous node in the network path comprises:

the targeted node transmitting a quantum signal to the previous node; or

the targeted node receiving a quantum signal from the previous node.

18. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 17 , wherein the communication between the first node and the node previous to the targeted node comprises the node previous to the targeted node sending the first node details of the quantum signal received or transmitted by the targeted node.

19. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 18 , further comprising the targeted node transmitting to the node previous to the targeted node details of the quantum signal that should be transmitted to the first node.

20. The method of quantum key distribution of claim 18 , further comprising:

generating a string of random numbers;

communicating the string of random numbers between the first node and the node previous to the targeted node;

the first node using the string of random numbers as a seed in a pseudo-random number generator to produce a longer string of random numbers; and

the node previous to the targeted node using the longer string to modulate the quantum signal.