G'day, This simply must be an FAQ, but I've searched the archives of the list and several others without a clear result. We know that Shor's Algorithm (on a QC) reduces the complexity of factoring / discrete logs from exp to poly time. Does anyone have a feel for what this does to key lifetime calculations / risk assessment? Poly time does not neccessarily beat exp-time in the real world - it all depends on contstants... Yes, I know that it might not even be possible to build a QC with a large enough qbit register, and yes I know that factoring might not actually be exp time on "normal" computers (but we all think/hope it is). All I'm trying to clarify is - assuming that someone builds a 1024 qbit QC, how long would it take to factor a 1024 bit composite? Or, more on point, do 2048-bit and 4096-bit composites because computationally tractable? Cheers, -- Ben Nagy Marconi Services Network Integration Specialist Mb: +61 414 411 520 PGP Key ID: 0x1A86E304
