Abstract: Quantumkey distribution(QKD)can provide long-term security and confidentiality for information andcommunications.Given the high cost and complexity of QKD networks, QKD as a service becomes one of the effective operation patterns for futureQKDnetworks, which allows the network-wide users to share theQKDnetwork infrastructure by applying for QKD services. This paper uses the software defined networking (SDN) technique to provide efficient and flexible QKD services. The framework and demonstration platform for software defined QKD as a service are introduced, and the QKD service provisioning workflow is demonstrated.

Key words: quanutmkey distribution, software defined networking, network operation, service provisioning