Artificial intelligence and quantum computing startup SandboxAQ has won a U.S. government contract for military cyber security in a deal that includes Microsoft and Deloitte & Touche as subcontractors.
The IT contract is with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) which provides global communications infrastructure for the Department of Defense. SandboxAQ did not reveal the size of the cyber security contract.
The global defense cyber security market size is expected to reach $33.7 billion by 2028, rising at a market growth of 7.3 percent CAGR during the forecast period.
SandboxAQ, which spun off from Alphabet last year, offers software that can scan systems and identify and replace encryption algorithms that can be broken with current technology and techniques or will likely be broken in the near term, SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary told Reuters.
“It’s a great milestone for our company,” Jack Hidary said. “We needed additional complementary skill sets in our consortium. We turned to Deloitte and Microsoft as our subcontractors.”
SandboxAQ selected Microsoft, which will provide the DevSecOps platform, and systems integrator Deloitte & Touche for their respective software and services capabilities.
Deloitte has worked with DISA for multiple years and provides services, including broad cryptographic integration and implementation, across the federal government.
Microsoft, a Gartner leader in hybrid technology deployments, has implementation experience in DISA on-premise and cloud environments.
SandboxAQ and its subcontractors have been involved in the national effort to prepare U.S. Government IT systems for a quantum future. SandboxAQ and Microsoft were both selected in 2022 by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence as technology collaborators to provide approaches for migration to post-quantum cryptography.
Earlier this year, SandboxAQ won a contract with the U.S. Air Force to research quantum navigation technology which could serve as an alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS), which can be jammed.
Quantum navigation uses sensors based on quantum physics to monitor slight local changes in the Earth’s magnetic field, making navigation systems much more precise.
