Quantum networking has reached a new milestone on its journey to viability as deployable infrastructure. After languishing for years with limited initial capabilities and uses cases, quantum networking has now advanced to a second generation through the use of quantum entanglement distributed over already-deployed telecom fiber. This new approach is driving the acceleration of quantum networking from the lab and into the real-world.

For decades, quantum key distribution’s (QKD) potential for secure communications drove investment in quantum networks as the use case with the most interest from industry. That interest dried up, however, in the United States when the National Security Agency (NSA) specifically declined to endorse it as a viable technology for securing communications.

Today, the uses for quantum networking technology have evolved significantly beyond QKD as the introduction of entanglement-based networks offer new protocols for security that are fundamentally different, more scalable and address NSA’s critique of QKD.

Here’s how it works: Instead of sending single photons using laser light to encode encryption “keys,” as in the case of its predecessor, entanglement-based networks produce linked particles—called entangled photons—that physically mirror one another–even across vast distances. No matter how far apart these entangled photons travel, they remain in perfect synchrony as long as their link is intact. Only if their link is disturbed does that mirroring end, which immediately signals that interference has happened.

This is the “a-ha” moment of entanglement. With it, the network isn’t waiting to discover a breach; it instinctively knows when it’s been compromised. An entangled network doesn’t require “keys” to unlock it, or external validation to confirm its integrity. Every single entangled particle acts as perfect sensors monitoring the communication channels, flagging any suspicious behavior in a fraction of a second.

However, the concept of entanglement lived for years in laboratories and research papers, where it was merely theoretical. This is mostly because there is a tendency for entangled photons to weaken under noisy, uncontrolled conditions, such as deployed optical fibers in cities. The technology needed to generate entanglement, manipulate it, and detect it had not been industrialized before. Certainly not with the quality and stability needed for commercial telecommunication use-cases.

Qunnect changed that.

Our mission has always been to explore the benefits of entanglement out of the lab and show how quantum networks can now scale, work reliably on standard fiber, and at room temperature. With our design partners, we have been finding novel use cases for this paradigm shifting tool. For the past four years, we have been pioneering quantum infrastructure by building the world’s first commercially deployable quantum networking system. Because real-world conditions are incredibly difficult to operate in, few people are doing it successfully.

Our commercial solution, Carina, is a turnkey, rack-mounted entanglement system that can be deployed across metro cities and networks. Carina is the first major commercial step forward in taking quantum networks out of the lab and into the field.

Following the success of our first deployed entanglement-based quantum network, GothamQ, in New York City in 2023, T-Labs within Deutsche Telekom partnered with us to create Bearlinq in Berlin. Since then, Montana State University, Cisco, CERN in Switzerland and the state of New Mexico have joined in anchoring planned quantum networks and laboratories with Qunnect tech. Carina’s deployments prove that entanglement can travel through the same fiber that carries your internet. And it does that at over 99% fidelity and with 24/7 operational capability. No cryogenics required.

From Qunnect’s perspective at the forefront of quantum tech, quantum networks present near-term use cases that can fundamentally change many aspects of everyday life.

For example, quantum networks could be used today by intelligence operatives to detect eavesdroppers with entanglement working as a built-in quantum sensor, an incredibly powerful physical protection layer against harvest now/decrypt later attacks on critical networks.

In another use case, bankers can leverage the unique properties of entanglement to verify the precise location a signal originates from, ensuring a message or transaction is coming from the location it is intended to come from. This use case would provide an important layer of identity authentication to prevent crimes such as money laundering. Vice versa, customers can verify the authenticity of the communications from the bank branches’ location to prevent fraud and financial impersonations.

Beyond proving today’s quantum networking use cases, we believe that quantum networks are essential infrastructure for the quantum future. In the very near term, entanglement-based networking will connect quantum data centers, connecting and scaling the power of quantum computers. And more importantly, without entanglement-based quantum networks, society can’t realize the full potential of quantum computers, sensors, and communications systems that will one day form the foundation of the quantum internet.

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