(CNET) AT&T is researching technology to link quantum computers, hoping to amplify their power much the way networking of conventional computers led to massive supercomputers and services spread across the globe. Quantum networking could lead to a similar leap for quantum computers and possibly form the foundation for a quantum internet.
AT&T doesn’t expect to bring this technology to market anytime soon and has formed a partnership called Intelligent Quantum Networks and Technologies (INQNET). The work involves researchers from the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, national laboratories, startups, the military and other institutions.
“How do you get it to a point where you can scale it so you can afford to buy one of these things?” said AT&T Chief Technology Officer Andre Fuetsch, sharing details of the effort for the first time at the AT&T Foundry in Palo Alto, California, the research and development lab that’s headquarters for the quantum networking project. “We want to make sure we’re there and we’re relevant.”