The Cisco Universal Quantum Switch routes quantum information at room temperature, over existing telecom fiber, with a Cisco-patented conversion engine that translates encoding modalities at input as output. The new switch is based on years of research, practical demos, and a growing ecosystem of strategic collaborations. The working switch prototype demonstrates that Cisco is accelerating in full-stack quantum networking.
"This is a milestone for our quantum program and a testament to the potential of quantum networks," says Vijoy Pandey, SVP/GM of Outshift, Cisco's Emerging Technologies and Incubation Group. "We have long known that we need to connect quantum systems for scalability, and to achieve that, we have now taken a crucial step. The road ahead is long, but the impact of what we are building - and what is yet to come - will be enormous."
Cisco builds the network layer for the quantum era
Current quantum computers are powerful but limited: they operate on hundreds of qubits, while real-world applications in healthcare, financial services, and aerospace require millions to achieve unprecedented speeds and technological breakthroughs. Cisco believes that networking and connectivity are central to bridging that gap. The quantum future will not be built by a single company or a single technology, but by connecting them all together.
The internet also emerged by connecting endpoints with classical switches via a shared, scalable network. The Cisco Universal Quantum Switch does the same for quantum. When two quantum computers need to share information, it accepts the signal in whatever form it arrives, translates it into a common language for routing, and delivers it in the format that the receiving system needs, without losing quantum information along the way.
This is made possible by a Cisco-patented conversion engine at the heart of the quantum switch. The output modality can match the input or be an entirely different modality. The conversion engine allows the quantum switch to translate modalities and connect quantum systems that were never designed to communicate with each other, making the conversion engine a crucial technology that enables the building of quantum networks with different vendors and technologies.
The quantum switch is designed to support all major quantum encoding modalities used to transport information:
- Polarization (the orientation of light waves)
- Time-Bin (the timing of light pulses)
- Frequency-Bin (the color or frequency of light)
- Path (the physical or spatial path)
At this moment, the quantum switch has been experimentally validated with polarization encoding. Support for time-bin and frequency-bin is built into the design and will be the next step in Cisco's ongoing validation process.
Tests and results
The Cisco Universal Quantum Switch was tested by Cisco researchers using Cisco's own entanglement source and single-photon detectors. In these experiments, the switch demonstrated that quantum information can be routed quickly, accurately, and efficiently between systems and converted between systems without destroying it.
Key findings include:
- Preserving quantum information through conversion: less than 4% degradation in the reliability of the quantum state and entanglement, maintaining the coherence that quantum networks need to function.
- Switching at the speed required by quantum networks: electro-optical switching occurs in less than a nanosecond, with connections reconfigured in just 1 nanosecond.
- Energy-efficient: consumes less than 1 milliwatt of power.
- The power behind the quantum network of the future
Quantum networks are still in their infancy. There is no established infrastructure connecting quantum systems, and most systems can only communicate with other systems that encode information in the same way they do.
The Cisco Universal Quantum Switch takes a completely new approach:
Unique: current switching technology is limited to one encoding type. The Cisco Universal Quantum Switch is designed to support all major encoding forms, with a built-in conversion capability that is patented by Cisco and not available in any other product on the market.
Operates at room temperature: unlike many quantum hardware components that require cryogenic cooling, Cisco's Universal Quantum Switch operates at room temperature.
Works with existing infrastructure: the switch operates on standard telecom frequencies over the same fiber used for classical internet traffic, without specialized equipment.
Connects systems that previously could not communicate: organizations are no longer bound to a single vendor's ecosystem. Quantum devices from different manufacturers can now work together, protecting existing investments and enabling best-of-breed quantum environments.
Designed for the full stack: the switch is built as part of Cisco's evolving end-to-end architecture for a distributed quantum network, encompassing hardware, software, and application layers.
Cisco's vision for the future
For more than four decades, Cisco has been building the infrastructure that connects the world. The Cisco Universal Quantum Switch is a new milestone in that journey. Cisco is confident that the path to operational quantum computing will be built in a few years, not decades, through a distributed network of interconnected quantum devices.
The Cisco Universal Quantum Switch is part of a broader quantum network portfolio that includes Cisco's quantum network entanglement chip, which generates the entangled photons on which quantum networks rely to send information. The portfolio also includes Cisco's Quantum Compiler, which orchestrates how quantum algorithms are distributed and executed across multiple quantum processors. The three technologies have been developed in Cisco's quantum labs in Santa Monica. The innovations contribute, along with applications like Quantum Sync and Quantum Alert, to Cisco's vision of a complete quantum network stack, from the hardware that generates and routes quantum information, to the software that manages it, to the applications that activate it.
