Cisco Accelerates Development of Quantum Data Centres with Innovative Network Solutions

Cisco Accelerates Development of Quantum Data Centres with Innovative Network Solutions

Cisco is pushing the edge in quantum with focused efforts toward viable quantum data centers and networking. The effort was one of the focal points at Quantum Summit 2024, where experts from various fields in pivotal advances in quantum networking, data security, and beyond converged.

At the heart of Cisco's roadmap is its vision of the quantum data center: a facility designed to handle hundreds of quantum circuits with flexible networking interconnects and a variety of entanglement schemes. Reza Nejabati, who leads Cisco's quantum effort in Outshift, said any notion of scaling up quantum computing into large, conventional systems comprised of millions of qubits is for now very impractical. A more feasible solution, however, is the interconnection of small quantum computers within a single data center," said Nejabati. This brings a more scalable quantum service using an integrated network of processors in a secure environment.

Back in January 2024, Cisco claimed it was able to connect quantum computers using conventional LAN models and fibre optics to enable high-speed exchanges of qubits between servers and provide a path towards commercial use. "Our goal also is to connect quantum sensors to IoT devices for a broad distributed sensing network," Nejabati revealed, implying an unparalleled ability to gather and perform analytics on data in real time.

The enabler for all these things is QFabric from Cisco-an advanced quantum network fabric that will provide a stable, high-speed quantum connection. As the backbone of the Cisco quantum switch, QFabric will provide error-free and disturbance-free entangled photon transmission among devices. Supporting several types of entanglement, it will guarantee low loss and latency crucial to robust and secure communications. This architecture is designed for a scalable multi-tenancy quantum network and will dynamically adapt to the users' needs.

As Cisco builds out its quantum infrastructure, security is paramount. QKD will be integrated into QFabric to enable secure key exchanges using the principles of quantum mechanics. This complements a hybrid approach to key management by marrying QKD with post-quantum cryptography that uses advanced algorithms said to be resistant to future quantum attacks. Rounding out its solution set, the company has also created a quantum random number generator in pursuit of enhancing cryptographic strength.

It also finds support for Cisco's strategic efforts in Quantum Orchestra-software to manage entanglement, routing, and resource distribution across the quantum network. The platform maps tasks to the layout of the network and device capabilities to optimize operations for the most efficient execution at low latency.

With much progress still in the simulation phase, Cisco is preparing to publish research in the near future, and that will give more insight into how quantum networks could revolutionize industries dependent on high-speed secure data processing and communication.