Cisco Qunnect News
Qunnect and Cisco demonstrated metro-scale, high-speed quantum entanglement switching across commercial fiber infrastructure, leaping closer to a viable quantum internet. In densely populated New York City, this breakthrough marked a change from lab trials to real-world applications. The partnership has demonstrated that the next generation of secure communications can coexist with existing telecoms systems by utilizing the GothamQ quantum networking testbed.
Bridging the Boroughs: The NYC Deployment
A 17.6-kilometer commercial telecom fiber network that connected Brooklyn and Manhattan was the main focus of the demonstration. The QTD Systems data center, which is situated at the iconic 60 Hudson Street and serves as a significant hub for international telecommunications, was used to route this link. This investigation used deployed metropolitan infrastructure, which is vulnerable to the physical stresses and signal interference typical of a bustling city, in contrast to earlier tests that relied on controlled laboratory fiber.
A hub-and-spoke architecture, which experts believe is the most scalable paradigm for upcoming quantum networks running through commercial data centers, was confirmed by the project. The teams have created a deployable model for future distributed quantum computing systems by proving that entanglement can be “swapped” across these distances in a changing environment.
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Breaking Performance Benchmarks
The partnership’s technical outcomes have established new benchmarks for the sector. At almost 1.7 million entangled pairs per hour locally, the system broke previous records for entanglement swapping speeds. Even more amazingly, it was able to sustain a rate of 5,400 pairs per hour across the metro fiber that was deployed.
Compared to earlier benchmarks utilizing similar platforms, new numbers show a performance boost that is almost 10,000 times greater. Additionally, a polarization integrity of more than 99% was maintained by the system. Because it guarantees the stability and precision of the quantum signal while it passes through one of the most complicated telecommunications environments in the world, this high degree of fidelity is essential.
Innovations in Hardware: Room-Temperature Scalability
The need for extremely low temperatures has always been a major obstacle in quantum networking. However, the room-temperature quantum endpoints used in this demonstration enable deployment without the requirement for large, costly cryogenic devices at each network node.
This innovative architecture greatly simplifies infrastructure and facilitates a more economical scaling procedure for quantum networks by centralizing cryogenic equipment at a hub location. Because Qunnect’s system architecture does not rely on shared master lasers across nodes, it eliminates a conventional physical constraint and permits the addition of new nodes to the network without requiring special synchronization links.
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The Role of Software Orchestration
Cisco’s software stack was crucial for controlling the network’s complexity, even if the hardware supplied the physical framework. The Carina quantum networking system from Qunnect, which creates the entangled photon pairs and employs Automatic Polarization Controllers to stabilize communications over the fiber, was the central component of the hardware configuration.
These activities were coordinated amongst the geographically dispersed nodes in Manhattan and Brooklyn by Cisco’s quantum networking software stack. This software controlled the network’s entanglement distribution and swapping on its own. Such orchestration software is essential for allowing the distributed quantum computing systems of the future, according to Reza Nejabati, Head of Quantum Research at Cisco.
How to Build a Quantum Internet
Many people believe that entanglement swapping is a basic function needed for future quantum internet architectures and large-scale quantum networks. It makes it possible to connect quantum processors over great distances, which is the foundation for improved computing power and secure quantum communication.
This experiment shows that scalable quantum networking may function dependably utilizing current metropolitan fiber, even in highly changeable urban surroundings, according to Mehdi Namazi, Chief Science Officer at Qunnect. The findings provide a clear road map for metro-scale quantum communication networks that are safe.
A scientific paper describing the experiment’s approach and findings has been published on the ArXiv repository for anyone looking for more in-depth technical insights. This accomplishment represents a significant turning point for both the MSU Qcore ecosystem and the larger field of quantum technology as of early April 2026.
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