Cisco Universal Quantum Switch Takes Distributed Quantum Computing Mainstream
Cisco has pulled back the curtain on a working research prototype it calls the biggest missing piece for quantum networking. The Cisco Universal Quantum Switch is designed to interconnect quantum computers from any vendor, creating distributed quantum computing networks on existing telecom fiber, without special cooling infrastructure.
The announcement is significant. Future quantum applications will require far more qubits than today’s quantum computers can deliver. Cisco argues that scaling out through quantum networks is just as critical as building bigger machines.
By connecting quantum computing nodes through a quantum network, those nodes “share a common state, and they appear and behave as one large quantum computer,” said Vijoy Pandey, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Outshift, Cisco’s emerging technologies incubation group. Furthermore, the technology sits right alongside classical networks, so “the quantum network and classical network sit side by side on the same physical infrastructure,” Pandey explained.
Today’s optical switches pose a problem for quantum networks. They disrupt the quantum encoding mapped to photons in transit. The Cisco Universal Quantum Switch solves this by translating various encoding modalities into a common language for routing, while still preserving quantum information. At the heart of this capability is Cisco’s patented “conversion engine,” which supports all four quantum encoding modalities, polarization, time-bin, frequency-bin, and path. Because of this, systems from different quantum vendors can connect and interoperate through the same network.
Critically, the switch runs at room temperature. Most quantum hardware requires cryogenic cooling, which makes deployment expensive and complicated. Moreover, this switch operates at standard telecom frequencies on existing fiber, meaning telecoms do not have to rebuild physical infrastructure to adopt it.
Pandey believes distributed quantum computing will become the norm, whether through cloud services or on-premises deployments. “What stays common and uniform is a quantum network,” he said. This vision positions Cisco’s telecom customers at the center of quantum computing’s future. “Telecom providers have a really big role to play here,” Pandey stressed, adding that starting from room-temperature hardware on existing frequencies and fiber makes the transition straightforward for carriers.
Real-world tests have already produced encouraging results. Cisco researchers recently tested the switch for “entanglement swapping” across a 17.6-kilometer fiber stretch between Manhattan and Brooklyn, using the carrier hotel at 60 Hudson Street in New York as the starting point. Results came in substantially better than lab demonstrations. The switch also preserved quantum information with less than 4% degradation in quantum state fidelity. It achieved sub-nanosecond electro-optic switching and consumed less than 1 milliwatt of power.
The Universal Quantum Switch is not yet commercially available. However, it forms part of Cisco’s broader quantum network stack, which includes the quantum network entanglement chip announced in May 2025, a network-aware Quantum Compiler, and two quantum applications called Sync and Alert. Partners Atom Computing, IBM, and Qunnect are working alongside Cisco in this effort.
For an industry still wrestling with how quantum computers will eventually connect in data centers, Cisco’s prototype offers the clearest signal yet that quantum networking could arrive sooner than expected, and on infrastructure that already exists.
