IBM and Cisco Systems have unveiled an ambitious plan to link quantum computers over long distances, setting a goal of demonstrating the concept by the end of 2030.
Both companies say the effort could eventually lay the foundation for a quantum internet, although much of the required technology still has to be invented and will depend on deep collaboration with universities and U.S. federal laboratories.
The companies disclosed the plan on Thursday, framing it as the start of a long technical journey rather than an imminent commercial rollout. Executives stressed that the networks of the future will require entirely new hardware, new scientific breakthroughs, and a unified approach to system design.
Quantum computers have long been viewed as machines capable of tackling problems in physics, chemistry, and computer security that are far beyond the reach of today’s classical supercomputers. They operate using qubits—quantum bits—that can exist in multiple states at once. Yet the same properties that make them remarkable also make them fragile, error-prone, and extremely difficult to scale. IBM is one of the companies leading the race to build a functional, reliable system and has said it aims to have an operational quantum machine by 2029.
Cisco, for its part, has been exploring the networking side of the challenge. Earlier this year, the company opened a dedicated lab to study how quantum systems could be connected—a step that aligns with its long history as a backbone provider for the classical internet.
A major hurdle sits at the very heart of the effort. Quantum computers such as IBM’s operate inside massive cryogenic tanks cold enough that atomic motion nearly stops. This environment allows qubits to function but also traps them in place. To transmit information externally, IBM must convert these stationary qubits into what Jay Gambetta, director of IBM Research and an IBM fellow, described to Reuters as “flying” qubits—microwave-based quantum signals capable of leaving the cryogenic system.
But even these microwave qubits are only the first step. To travel over long distances between Cisco’s fiber-optic switches, the microwave signals must be transformed into optical signals. The component responsible for this conversion—a microwave-optical transducer—does not yet exist at the required level of efficiency or stability. IBM and Cisco plan to work with organizations such as the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, led by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago, to develop it.
Cisco and IBM also intend to publish open-source software that integrates all components of the emerging system. This is meant to help researchers and partners experiment, test interoperability, and avoid fragmentation as the technology advances.
Vijoy Pandey, senior vice president of Cisco’s Outshift innovation incubator, said the joint approach is essential.
“We are looking at this end-to-end as a system … rather than two discrete road maps,” he noted. “We are solving it jointly, which has a much better chance of this thing going in the same direction.”
The effort, if successful, could mark the earliest stage of a quantum internet, a network that—unlike today’s classical internet—could rely on quantum mechanics to transmit information with new levels of security and computational power. But the companies acknowledge that the vision is still years away, with fundamental scientific obstacles yet to be overcome.
IBM, Cisco, Google’s quantum division, academic labs, and government-funded research centers are all pushing different pieces of the puzzle forward. The joint IBM–Cisco initiative adds a major industry-scale attempt to tackle the networking challenge, one of the least-developed but most essential elements of a future quantum ecosystem.
