Optalysys Partners with Google HEIR to Trial Photonic Computing Technology for Fully Homomorphic Encryption

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 14, 2024 — Optalysys, a company enabling the future of secure computing, has partnered with Google HEIR to integrate its photonic processing technology into HEIR’s compiler toolchain for Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). This integration aims to address the computational challenges of FHE, making it more commercially viable.

Fully Homomorphic Encryption is an advanced, quantum-resilient cryptography method that allows encrypted data to be processed without ever needing to be decrypted. It allows organizations to process data while maintaining privacy, opening up opportunities for secure data collaboration across industries, even in untrusted environments. However, the high processing demands of FHE, which are far greater than traditional computing, have posed a barrier to its widespread adoption and commercial viability.

HEIR, a compiler developed by Google, provides an efficient intermediate representation (IR) layer that allows FHE applications to run efficiently across various hardware platforms. By simplifying FHE integration, HEIR makes this cryptography method more accessible to developers, paving the way for new commercial applications. The partnership will see Optalysys integrate its advanced photonic computing technology with HEIR’s compiler, enabling HEIR-generated code to run FHE workloads on Optalysys’ optical processing chips.

Dr. Nick New, CEO of Optalysys, said, “Our partnership with Google HEIR is a milestone for both photonic computing and the FHE ecosystem. This is the first time that photonic processing has been integrated into an FHE toolchain, and the results from our trial demonstrate significant improvements in performance. Optalysys’ technology is uniquely positioned to address the demanding computational needs of FHE and this collaboration is a major step toward faster, more efficient, and accessible encryption.”

Jeremy Kun, SWE, Google Security Research, said, “We are excited about the Optalysys and Google HEIR collaboration, a significant step forward towards practical Fully Homomorphic Encryption. This effort showcases how the interplay of sophisticated algorithms, groundbreaking hardware, and user-friendly tools is essential for bringing FHE into the mainstream. HEIR simplifies FHE integration and empowers developers to build real-world, privacy-preserving applications without requiring deep cryptographic expertise. This type of focused investment, bridging the gap between advanced cryptographic research and practical application development, is precisely what’s needed to unlock FHE’s transformative potential for secure computation.”

Following a successful trial, Optalysys will continue to work with Google HEIR to refine and expand the integration of optical computing for FHE, with the ultimate goal of bringing next-generation FHE solutions to market.

About Optalysys

Founded in Leeds, UK, Optalysys enables the future of secure compute by processing encrypted data at scale, without it being decrypted. It does this by using the power of advanced silicon photonics to enable Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), a cryptographic technology to allow organisations to securely commercialise their data. Founded in 2013 by Dr. Nick New (CEO) and Robert Todd (CTO), Optalysys has raised funding from investors including Northern Gritstone, Lingotto, Verve Ventures and imec.xpand. Its most recent round was a £21m Series A in July 2023. Optalysys has developed an Innovation Lab, a secure platform for users to experiment with its prototype FHE accelerator hardware powered by silicon photonics.

Source: Optalysys