In 2010, EPB, Chattanooga Tennessee’s municipal electric power and fiber optics-based communications provider set a new standard in preparing for the future when it launched America’s first community-wide 1 gigabit-per-second internet service available to every home and business in its 600 square mile territory.
Meanwhile, quantum networking pioneer Qubitekk was applying its years of research in quantum entanglement to practical use for quantum-safe security and networking.
In 2016, the two leaders teamed up to explore how the power of Qubitekk’s quantum security products could help protect the nation’s smart grid from cyber-attacks with EPB providing the established fiber optic environment needed to develop the technology. Engaging external partners like Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory, the partners have completed award-winning work, including the 2021 R&D 100 Award, to demonstrate the potential superiority of combining advanced communications infrastructure with quantum technologies to solve current and future challenges.
EPB Quantum Network powered by Qubitekk is America’s first industry-led, commercially available quantum network designed for private companies as well as government and university researchers to run quantum equipment. It’s technology built on infrastructure that will accelerate the development, adoption and integration of quantum products.
EPB serves the people of the Chattanooga area with advanced smart city infrastructure to enable world-class energy and connectivity solutions that include the most resilient smart grid power distribution system in the United States and the fastest internet in the world.
EPB also utilizes the fiber optic network as the communications backbone for deploying more than 200,000 smart switches, sensors and other devices to establish the most advanced and highly automated smart grid in the nation. As a result, the U.S. Department of Energy named EPB a living laboratory for pioneering smart grid technologies. Since then, EPB has partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and more than 20 other national research partners to play a critical role in more than $155 million in smart city research. EPB was also the first major power distribution utility to earn the GBCI’s PEER certification for having a highly automated, modernized electric power grid in 2015 and followed up in 2021 by re-certifying at PEER Gold.
EPB is an independent board of the City of Chattanooga which began serving customers in 1939.
Qubitekk designs the components for quantum networks, a precursor to the quantum-enabled internet while championing the growth of a robust quantum ecosystem through education, advocacy and collaboration.
Co-founded by Dr. Duncan Earl, a nationally recognized pioneer in the field of practical quantum applications, Qubitekk holds more patents than any American player in the quantum communications space and has been recognized with an Edison Gold Award and R&D World’s R&D 100 award.
The company’s growing list of partners and customers includes NASA, GE, Verizon, Juniper, the United States Department of Energy and the United States Department of Defense.
