Cisco Systems unveiled a groundbreaking switching chip Thursday that the company says will enable different types of quantum computers to communicate with each other, marking another milestone in building what could become a quantum version of the internet.
While major technology companies like Google and IBM are racing to build their own quantum computers, Cisco has taken a different approach by focusing on connecting quantum machines from various manufacturers rather than creating its own hardware.
Current quantum computers use vastly different technologies – some operate by targeting rubidium atoms suspended in vacuum chambers with laser beams, while others rely on superconductors chilled to temperatures near absolute zero.
Vijoy Pandey, who serves as senior vice president and general manager of Outshift, Cisco’s emerging technologies division, explained that quantum researchers expect each of these different methods may prove valuable for specific applications. Cisco’s new switch operates at normal room temperature using standard fiber-optic telecommunications cables to bridge the communication gap between these diverse systems.
“You can speak any language,” Pandey said.
Although extensive networks of quantum computers likely won’t emerge until the 2030s, Cisco’s switching technology could provide immediate benefits for cybersecurity, according to Jeetu Patel, the company’s president and chief product officer.
Quantum mechanics operates on the principle that information can exist in multiple states simultaneously until observed – similar to the famous thought experiment where Schrödinger’s cat remains both alive and dead until someone opens the box to check.
Cisco’s switch can link multiple quantum sensors that are currently available into a networked “entangled state.” When hackers or malicious artificial intelligence systems attempt to spy on the network, the quantum sensors would immediately detect the intrusion because the entanglement would break down when the information gets intercepted.
“If you can start detecting behaviors of what is happening on the network through a quantum switch, it changes your defense posture almost entirely,” Patel said.
