Cisco Prepares Network Infrastructure for Quantum Leap

Cisco sees AI as the current wave, with quantum computing as the next phase.

Cisco views AI as the current technological wave, while quantum computing is seen as the next phase, emerging from the research stage. This was stated by the company’s Global Innovation Officer, Guy Diedrich, in an interview with Frontier Enterprise.

According to him, this is not a distant prospect but a technology whose “time has come” now. Cisco is focusing not on creating its own quantum computer, but on the infrastructure for integrating different systems.

The top manager identified the lack of reliable communication between various quantum environments as one of the industry’s main challenges.

This assertion aligns with Cisco’s recent announcement of the Cisco Universal Quantum Switch—a research prototype capable of routing entangled photons without destroying their quantum state.

Cisco claims the system can convert major types of quantum encoding and operate over standard telecom fiber at room temperature.

Essentially, the company aims to occupy a sector analogous to the internet’s network infrastructure: not the computing itself, but a switching system that will enable disparate quantum devices to be linked into a single network.

Cisco’s blog states that directly connecting a large number of quantum nodes quickly becomes impractical, whereas a switching level should eliminate this complexity and preserve signal properties.

A 17.6 km Quantum Network

In February, Cisco, in collaboration with Qunnect, built and tested a quantum network between Brooklyn and Manhattan using existing fiber-optic infrastructure.

It operated over a 17.6 km stretch of urban fiber. The project became part of the company’s strategy to connect quantum computers first within data centers and then between them.

Diedrich stated that the industry has focused too long on the Q-Day scenario—the moment when quantum computers can break modern encryption methods. In his view, another phase may arrive sooner: regulators might start requiring proof of quantum readiness and compliance with new standards even before a practical threat emerges.

He also noted that Cisco is already incorporating post-quantum cryptography into the architecture of its products and services. During Cisco Live EMEA 2026, the firm presented a full-cycle infrastructure for post-quantum cryptography.

Parallel Development

In the interview, Diedrich explicitly states that technologies no longer develop sequentially. According to him, AI, quantum, and neuromorphic systems are emerging simultaneously and beginning to reinforce each other.

Quantum technologies are ceasing to be a laboratory experiment and are gradually becoming a key element of future network architecture, interoperability, and compatibility with existing telecom infrastructure.

Back in May, Saudi Aramco and Pasqal opened access to the first quantum computer in Saudi Arabia and introduced the QCaaS platform.