Orange Business and Cisco Collaborate on Crypto-Agile PQC Networking

Orange Business and Cisco have announced a collaboration to deploy Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) secured solutions across Orange’s global network infrastructure. Orange becomes the first European service provider to offer PQC-secured global network services utilizing the Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers, which are specifically engineered for quantum-safe connectivity. This initiative is designed to mitigate the "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" threat, where sensitive data intercepted today could be decrypted in the future once sufficiently powerful quantum computers become available.

The technical integration focuses on making the Cisco SD-WAN infrastructure—including both its control and data planes—quantum-safe. By embedding PQC as a software feature, the solution secures site authentication and key exchange protocols across the entire Wide Area Network (WAN) rather than just individual tunnels. A central component of this strategy is crypto-agility, which allows the network to quickly upgrade or alter cryptographic algorithms as standards evolve without requiring disruptive hardware changes. This ensures that data moving across cloud environments, data centers, and corporate sites remains resilient against both current and emerging cryptographic vulnerabilities.

This collaboration represents the latest building block in the Orange Quantum Defender portfolio. While PQC-secured WAN services are available immediately, PQC-secured managed Cisco SD-WAN services are targeted for commercial availability in Q3 2026. By adopting a standards-aligned, step-by-step approach, Orange and Cisco aim to provide enterprises and public sector organizations with a centrally managed, quantum-resilient WAN that maintains confidentiality over long data lifecycles.

Read the official announcement from Orange Business here.

February 10, 2026