Altice Labs, together with Deimos Engenharia, Adyta, the Telecommunications Institute of the University of Aveiro and Instituto Superior Técnico, has completed the European DISCRETION project. This is a strategic initiative under the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) and the European Defence Fund (EDF), dedicated to strengthening military communications in complex tactical scenarios. Altice Labs' contribution was the development of a software-defined network (SDN), applied to the management and control of tactical radios in highly demanding environments, in order to ensure secure communications. This cutting-edge solution uses quantum key distribution (QKD), a disruptive technology that protects communications against current and future threats, including those of the post-quantum era.
The project set out to build two innovative systems, essential for national sovereignty in terms of cyber and cryptographic security: the creation of a national cipher machine - with the possibility of distributing quantum keys - and state-of-the-art quantum nodes, both developed exclusively with Portuguese technology. DISCRETION was the first project led and coordinated by Portugal under EDIDP and EDF, through a consortium of four member states - Portugal, Spain, Italy and Austria - and aimed to increase the security of military networks and other structures against emerging threats. It is part of the European Commission's priorities in terms of cybersecurity and strategic autonomy and involved the collaboration of several European partners.
The technology developed by Altice Labs and the consortium has already been demonstrated in Portugal, at the Telecommunications Institute in Aveiro, at the Permanent Representation of Portugal (REPER) in Brussels, and in Spain, at FEINDEF 2025. At the beginning of July, the project received the National Innovation Award in the Cybersecurity category, a distinction given to Deimos, the entity responsible for coordinating DISCRETION. In addition to Altice Labs and Deimos, DISCRETION partners include the Telecommunications Institute, the Instituto Superior Técnico and Adyta, at national level, as well as Telefónica, the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Nextworks (Italy) and the Austrian Institute of Technology, at international level. This participation consolidates Altice Labs' role as a leading technology company in the development of secure and intelligent communication solutions, with direct application in defense and security environments, and positions Portugal at the forefront of European innovation in resilient networks and cyberdefense.