Quantum protocol: a proven handshake, little CPU
The Quantum protocol keeps the handshake unmodified, Noise_IKpsk2 with X25519, ChaCha20-Poly1305 and BLAKE2s, and changes what sits around it. On a router it moved more traffic at about half the CPU per megabit than the router's own kernel tunnel.
How it works
- 01
A proven handshake. Not reinvented.
The tunnel core keeps its handshake unmodified — Noise_IKpsk2, proven, interoperable with the fleet we run. What we changed sits around it: room in the handshake's own key slot for material we haven't shipped yet, traffic shaping, handshake and keepalive sizes that vary on every connection, and a diagnostic layer that reads the datapath's own counters instead of asking it how it feels.
- 02
On your device
Handshake, encryption, and the counters that produce a verdict — all local. Nothing about how you use the tunnel leaves the device to be diagnosed.
- 03
On the exit
Your traffic terminates on hardware we run, not a control-plane Worker. The Worker in front issues signed server lists and entitlements — it never carries a packet.
What you get
- 122 Mbit/s against 66.8 Mbit/s for the router's own kernel tunnel, on the same MikroTik routers and gigabit LAN.
- About half the CPU per megabit: 0.53 against 1.10 percent per Mbit/s.
- About 3 MB of resident memory in the router test.
Limits and honest caveats
- The router's own kernel tunnel had lower latency in the same test: 0.92 ms against 1.22 ms.
- The two sides used different traffic generators, because no single one runs on both. Each is measured against its own no-tunnel ceiling in the write-up.
- The numbers come from two routers and a lab, not from your network. Your result depends on your device.
Read the measurements, intervals and traps
Where it exists
- iPhone
- iPad
- Mac
- Apple TV
- Android
- Android TV
- Windows
- Linux
- MikroTik
Plans
Every plan uses the same protocol.
Questions
- Is the handshake modified?
- No. It is Noise_IKpsk2 as published, which lets us rely on the analysis that already exists for it. What we changed sits around it.
- Is it faster than other VPNs?
- On two MikroTik routers it moved more traffic per CPU cycle than the router's own kernel tunnel, and lost on latency. The write-up shows the intervals and the traps.
- Does Quantum mean it resists quantum computers?
- Not yet. Quantum is the protocol's name. Post-quantum key exchange (ML-KEM-1024, mixed into the handshake's existing pre-shared-key slot) is built and running on a test server, and it rolls out across our servers as they are upgraded. We will say "post-quantum" without qualification once every server has it.