Italtel at the 6th Plenary Meeting of the European NANCY Project in Thessaloniki

Italtel took part in the 6th Plenary Meeting of the European project NANCY, held in Thessaloniki, Greece, on September 3–4, 2025, hosted by the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH).

NANCY – “An Artificial Intelligent Aided Unified Network for Secure Beyond 5G Long Term Evolution” – focuses on developing a secure and intelligent architecture for next-generation wireless networks, beyond 5G (B5G).

During the two-day meeting, project partners reviewed progress and coordinated the final phase of the project, including:

• integration of developed components,
• validation activities,
• and preparation of final demonstrations across the three testbeds located in Greece, Italy, and Spain.

Strategic topics such as continuous integration, interoperability, GDPR-compliant data management, dissemination and standardization, and business opportunities were also discussed.

PQC and Blockchain: Italtel’s Technological Contribution

A key area of interest for Italtel within the project is the integration of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) in blockchain mechanisms, to ensure long-term security against emerging quantum computing threats.

Italtel led the integration and validation of PQC-based digital signatures for securing blockchain transactions and blocks.
A full 5G RAN + Edge open-source testbed was set up by Italtel to support this.

In this setup, our colleague Marco Beccari successfully integrated and validated:

• a PQC-enabled hardware token developed by Thales,
• and the blockchain components provided by NEC.

Using an Italtel PC connected via a 5G dongle, the solution was tested and validated in a real-world, non-simulated environment, showcasing the practical applicability of the innovation.

European Collaboration and Innovation for Secure B5G Networks

NANCY represents a strategic opportunity for Italtel to collaborate with leading European partners and contribute to the development of secure, intelligent, and energy-efficient Beyond-5G network solutions.

As highlighted by our colleague Antonella Clavenna:

“This was a key moment of cooperation among project partners as we approach the final phase. A special thanks to the CERTH team for the excellent organization of the meeting!”

Thanks to the shared effort of all partners, the project is moving toward its final review with promising results and outlooks for the real-world adoption of next-generation technologies.