The European Union has allotted €2 million for a three-year project to develop a reconfigurable photonic “firewall on a chip” to provide high-speed data security for global optical networks. The Wirespeed Security Domains Using Optical Monitoring system will complement electronic security techniques with optical information filtering that operates at wire speed.

Led by the Centre for Integrated Photonics Ltd. in Ipswich, UK, a consortium of research institutions and companies involved in optical networking will develop the system.