The article is about quantum cryptography. The author gives credit card processing as a layman example of encrypted communication, and states, erroneously, that the connection process is slow because of the SSL handshake.
It is true that SSL increases latency, but it is not the main factor, as harshreality said.
However, the example is an aside, and the error is a small aside in the aside. Not really worth discussing, and it definitely doesn't have its place at the top of the thread, where it was when I first posted. It is still currently the second comment.
Note that harshreality improved his post after the fact... or did I miss the good bits when I first read it? Hoist with my own petard? If so, sincere appologies.