Quantum technology-based research is growing exponentially with funding opportunities opening up at an almost similar rate. There have been many use cases for quantum technology but one that may see faster adoption is telecommunications.

Tom Dakich, CEO of Quantum Corridor makes a case for the adoption of Quantum Communication (QComm)

An article by Tom Dakich, CEO of Quantum Corridor suggests that quantum communication (QComm) could bring lightning-fast data transmission which would lead to faster communication networks bringing a disruption to the telecommunications industry. 

This opens up a large array of opportunities and challenges in the market but he questions if the industry is ready to take the bold move of replacing legacy infrastructure with this new technology when the time arises.

Tom says that with the already massive success in the development of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and their application in artificial intelligence, the introduction of Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) by chip manufacturers which may only be a year from now, will bring even greater computing power that can solve complex computational problems by maintaining multiple quantum states. 

The chips will also be embedded in quantum computers to power quantum platforms. However, linking these platforms will be done via QComm networks and information (stored as qubits) will move at the speed of light opening up even faster communication levels.

There are two core areas that quantum technology applied in communication is positioned to solve. They are speed and security challenges that currently plague the industry. While there have been great improvements in the generation of networks over the years powered by fibre optics infrastructure, quantum technology brings communication to a near-perfect state. 

For example, Quantum Corridor has employed a Coherent Optics network to transmit classical data from Chicago to Hammond, Indiana, in the US at 40 terabits per second (Tbps), or 40,000 times faster than the gigabit internet, and by the end of the year, the number is expected to reach 1.2 petabits per second (Pbps) equal to 600 billion pages of text transmitted every second, or nearly the entire data exchange of the internet backbone today (1.7 Pbps) when the network has been scaled up. One petabyte is equal to one quadrillion bytes, which is 1 million gigabytes, or 1,000 terabytes.

To see the widespread adoption of quantum technology in communications, investments have to be made in the development of quantum networks as quantum data tends to degrade over long distances when traveling over fibre optic networks.

To give a clear picture of this, Tom shared the amount of data that enables the return of results for a single search on Google. Currently, a Google search interacts with approximately 4,000 servers. When incorporating sophisticated AI modelling employing machine learning algorithms, as well as the demand for 4K video streaming and 8K virtual reality experiences facilitated by platforms such as Meta’s Oculus headset, the bandwidth demands are projected to overwhelm existing network capacities.

On security, Tom suggests that Quantum technology will provide higher encryption techniques with higher telecoms capacity to keep communication networks secure. With the availability of security protocols such as SSL and TCL today, Quantum technology breaking through these protocols will bring about advanced techniques for national defence, financial services, pharmaceutical industries, and many more. Commercialisation will likely open up bigger opportunities like quantum internet layered on top of Quantum communications.