Cisco unveils software to accelerate quantum networks

A number of voices question when quantum computing technologies will deliver true business value, but IT and networking giant Cisco says that through new networking application demos for classical use cases, it has developed software that makes distributed quantum computing work.

The company’s Quantum Labs has launched what it claims is the industry’s first software stack designed to network quantum computers together. While today’s quantum machines are stuck at hundreds of qubits, most practical problems need millions, and so instead of waiting for a “perfect machine”, Cisco said it is scaling out by connecting the computers we have now in a move that it boasts will accelerate real-world quantum applications by as much as decades.

Cisco stressed that what makes its launch unique is that it accounts for quantum interconnect requirements between processors and supports distributed quantum error correction. Existing compilers only target circuits for single computers. The new one is said to compile circuits for network-connected computers, potentially made of heterogeneous quantum compute technologies, and can distribute that partitioned circuit across an entire datacentre of processors, all connected through a quantum network.

On a practical basis, this means that if a business is building scalable and operable quantum computing infrastructure, they need this capability to right-size and figure out how many quantum nodes they will need and what types of compute technologies work best for the various parts of their algorithm.

Looking at potential use cases, pharmaceutical companies could need this to run drug discovery algorithms that are too large or complex for single machines; financial firms for simulations that require different types of computational power and for scoping their infrastructure; and research institutions for innovating new quantum algorithms and compute types.

At the heart of the launch is a network-aware distributed quantum compiler built to be capable of running quantum algorithms across multiple processors while handling error correction across the network, making quantum networking real.

The teams at Cisco Quantum Labs and Outshift by Cisco, the company’s incubation engine, have built a software solution prototype designed for controlling, managing and monitoring entanglement-based quantum networks across applications, both in the quantum and the classical computing spaces. The Cisco team said its approach works with any quantum computing platform, whether superconducting, trapped ion, photonic or any other.

To advance its quantum networking strategy, the team has launched three research prototypes: Quantum Compiler, Quantum Alert and Quantum Sync. The former is claimed to be the industry’s first network-aware, distributed quantum compiler, enabling quantum algorithms to run across multiple networked processors. As part of this, Cisco has also launched a compiler supporting distributed quantum error correction.

Quantum Alert takes the form of an application demo for eavesdropper-proof security with, said Cisco, “guarantees from physics, not promises from classical software”. Quantum Sync is a decision coordination application demo that uses entanglement to enable correlated decision-making across distributed locations for classical use cases. All three applications run on a unified quantum networking software stack, which is the vital infrastructure that makes quantum computers work together instead of alone.

In building its quantum networking stack, Cisco said it is taking the same systems-level approach to quantum networking as it did for the classical internet. That is building a full networking stack from the ground up, including a quantum networking chip, control software, including protocols and controllers for managing the network, and quantum networking applications that solve problems in the quantum and classical worlds.

The new unified quantum networking software stack is said to have three layers of capabilities, encompassing applications, a control layer and a devices layer. Applications include quantum networking applications for quantum and classical use cases. Cisco has released code availability of a network-aware distributed quantum computing compiler that enables efficient execution of quantum algorithms in a networked quantum datacentre.

The control layer that contains quantum networking protocols and algorithms to both support the broad set of quantum networking applications and manage the wide set of devices – including hardware and software – that make up a quantum network through northbound and southbound application programming interfaces (APIs). The devices layer consists of a software development kit (SDK) and APIs to physical devices, as well as a library of emulated and simulated ones.