Entangled Networks: Enabling Technologies and Future Markets

The Quantum Internet remains ill defined. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to assume that it is a network where the nodes are entangled with connectivity over some kind of quantum interconnect. With this in mind, IQT Research is publishing this report which identifies the current and emerging opportunities for Entangled Networks. Our report also provides coverage of the many challenges faced by entangled networks including technical issues, regulations, standards and applications development.

The report is partly based on a survey of major influencers in this space as well as a review of recent technical and relevant business literature. The final chapter of this report comprises a ten-year forecast of deployment and revenue generation by entangled networks by (1) types of attached equipment, (2) media and (3) reach.

Much of the current activity in this space might be reasonably designated as research. We still have a long way to go before long-haul entangled networks become common. There are a growing number of quantum network testbeds, especially in North America and Europe, but again much of the activity - the applications in testbeds - are R&D oriented. Before entangled quantum networks become ubiquitous, quantum repeaters will need to be developed. Until quantum repeaters are commercialized, we anticipate that a lot of Quantum Internet traffic will be carried over satellites. This report goes into detail about where the Entangled Network is today and what it will become over the next few years.

For now, the most noteworthy target application of quantum networks is distributed quantum computing, the networking together of quantum computers. A parallel can be drawn here with high performance computing (HPC), which networks classical computers together to increase the available processing power, memory, and storage. Similarly, networking quantum computers together will enable larger problems to be tackled than would otherwise be the case. While the focus today is on entangled networks that connect quantum computers, IQT research believes that there is much potential to extend the Entangled Network concept to a Quantum Internet of Things (QIoT) as quantum sensors mature.