The quantum internet is leaving the laboratory: how do you prepare for it?
For a long time, the quantum internet belonged mainly to the vocabulary of fundamental research. The idea is ambitious: to connect distant quantum systems so that they can share quantum resources and, eventually, make possible new forms of communication, distributed computing, sensing, and information security. We are still far from a global quantum network accessible to businesses, but scientific experiments are advancing and beginning to demonstrate the feasibility of some of the components needed to build it.
A recent experiment illustrates this progress with the establishment of entanglement between two atomic quantum memories separated by a link representing 420 kilometers of optical fiber. This advance does not mean that companies will soon be able to connect their infrastructures to a commercial quantum internet. The scientific, technical, industrial, and economic challenges remain considerable. It does, however, demonstrate that some of the architectures envisaged for future quantum networks are beginning to be tested over distances that gradually exceed the strictly local scale.
For executives and technology leaders, the value of this work therefore lies less in the prospect of buying new equipment soon than in the need to understand early enough a possible new generation of digital infrastructures. Preparing for the quantum internet does not mean predicting exactly when it will arrive or what form it will take. It consists in developing the knowledge, architectural agility, and governance that will make it possible to recognize relevant applications and to make the right decisions when these technologies actually begin to mature.
The phrase “quantum internet” can easily create an initial confusion. It is not simply a matter of imagining a much faster version of the internet we use today. Classical networks transmit information in the form of bits, whereas quantum networks seek, among other things, to distribute quantum states and entanglement between different systems. This distinction is fundamental, since the objective is not to speed up the download of a file or the display of a website, but to create a new network capability allowing distant quantum systems to share resources that classical technologies cannot reproduce.
Entanglement is one of those resources. Two quantum systems can share a state exhibiting particular correlations that could eventually be exploited in various architectures. In the longer term, distant quantum computers could collaborate, networks of quantum sensors could offer new capabilities, and certain communication or key distribution applications could directly exploit the properties of quantum physics. Scientific infrastructures that are independent today could also be interconnected. The true potential of the quantum internet therefore lies in the emergence of new functions rather than in a simple improvement in the performance of current networks.
Distance, however, is one of the great challenges of quantum communications. In classical networks, a weakened signal can be received, regenerated, amplified, and then retransmitted, which allows telecommunications infrastructures to cover very long distances. Quantum states impose different constraints. An unknown quantum state cannot simply be copied at will, and the loss of photons in optical fibers quickly becomes problematic as distances increase. Future networks will therefore have to use suitable architectures, in particular memories and, eventually, quantum repeaters capable of extending communications while respecting the physical properties of the information being carried.
It is from this perspective that the experiment carried out over a link representing 420 kilometers becomes interesting. It explores mechanisms that could help push back some of the limits associated with direct quantum transmissions. This result must nonetheless be interpreted with caution. It is not a commercial link connecting two major cities and ready to host services for businesses. A significant portion of the distance was reproduced with fiber in an experimental setting, and laboratory conditions remain very different from those of an infrastructure that must operate continuously for a large number of users.
The path to large-scale quantum networks therefore remains considerable. Performance and reliability will have to improve, equipment will have to be industrialized, and its costs will have to come down. Protocols will have to be standardized, administration mechanisms will have to be developed, and quantum networks will have to be able to integrate with classical infrastructures. Business models will also matter, since the scientific feasibility of a technology does not guarantee that large-scale commercial deployment is justified. These challenges call for a realistic view of the timeline while recognizing that major technology infrastructures generally begin to be prepared well before their widespread adoption.
The most interesting scenario for organizations is in fact probably one of coexistence among several forms of infrastructure. The classical internet will continue to carry the vast majority of digital communications for a long time. Quantum technologies will be able to gradually add specialized capabilities where they provide a sufficiently significant advantage. An organization could thus continue to use its classical infrastructures for its applications, data, and routine communications while accessing certain quantum resources for specific needs.
This coexistence is part of a transformation that is already well under way. A modern company may simultaneously operate internal data centers, several cloud providers, SaaS applications, edge devices, connected objects, mobile systems, and infrastructures belonging to its partners. Artificial intelligence adds models, specialized accelerators, digital agents, and new layers of governance. Quantum could eventually add another category of resources to that set. Tomorrow’s digital architecture could thus combine classical computing, cloud, edge, artificial intelligence, and quantum capabilities according to needs.
The main challenge will therefore not be to master each of these technologies in isolation. It will be to make them work together in a coherent, secure, and governable way. An organization does not necessarily need to become an expert in building quantum computers or in fundamental physics in order to eventually benefit from these technologies. It will, however, need to understand enough about how they work, their advantages, their constraints, and their dependencies to determine where they can create value and how they can be integrated into the existing environment.
For most organizations, this preparation therefore does not justify acquiring a quantum network infrastructure today. It begins instead with technology monitoring, an understanding of potential use cases, and an analysis of current decisions that could influence future possibilities. Some industrial infrastructures can remain in service for twenty years, critical applications can span several technology generations, and embedded systems can become extremely difficult to modify after deployment. The architectural choices made today can therefore determine how easily an organization will integrate the technologies of tomorrow.
Architectural agility then becomes a strategic competency. Components should be able to evolve, major dependencies should be known, protocols should be upgradable, and data should be governed well enough to allow migration or use in new environments. Interfaces must also be structured in a way that facilitates the integration of new capabilities. Paradoxically, a significant part of preparing for the quantum internet can therefore begin with decisions that have nothing directly to do with any quantum technology.
Cryptography is already an area where this preparation can become much more concrete. Quantum networks and post-quantum cryptography are two different subjects that it is important to distinguish. An organization does not need to wait for a commercial quantum internet to appear before beginning to assess its cryptographic readiness. Certain families of algorithms widely used today could eventually be threatened by sufficiently powerful quantum computers, and migrating to new standards can take several years in complex environments.
Post-quantum preparation therefore begins with precise knowledge of the existing environment. An organization must gradually understand which cryptographic mechanisms it uses, which applications they sit in, which data they protect, which suppliers depend on them, and how long the information concerned must remain confidential. That knowledge then makes it possible to map dependencies, assess exposure, prioritize migrations, and develop genuine crypto-agility. This approach has immediate value, since it improves the organization’s ability to manage the next cryptographic transitions, whatever the pace at which quantum technologies advance.
This logic connects directly to a fundamental dimension of Hypersecurity: permanent preparedness for change. A mature organization does not build its architecture on the assumption that current technologies will remain the best indefinitely. It seeks to understand its dependencies, retain options for replacement, and develop governance that makes it possible to gradually integrate new capabilities without losing control of its environment. Quantum is then a particularly visible example of a much broader principle: security and technological sovereignty also rest on the ability to evolve.
Preparing, however, does not mean predicting the future. No one yet knows precisely what form a large-scale commercial quantum internet will take, which architectures will prevail, which applications will create enough value to justify the investments, or how quickly costs will fall. New discoveries can also change current trajectories. The most robust strategy therefore consists in avoiding choices that would needlessly lock the organization into an architecture incapable of evolving once the technologies and uses become clearer.
The establishment of entanglement between quantum memories across a link representing 420 kilometers of fiber does not mean that the quantum internet will enter companies tomorrow. This experiment nevertheless constitutes one more signal that the scientific and technological components required for future networks continue to progress. As with several major technological transformations, the period preceding commercial adoption can become particularly useful for learning, observing, and preparing the capabilities that will eventually make it possible to act with discernment.
For organizations, the immediate priority therefore consists in understanding emerging technologies, assessing the possible consequences for their activities, and building architectures agile enough to evolve. Knowledge of technological dependencies, data governance, post-quantum preparation, crypto-agility, and the ability to integrate new resources into hybrid environments are already worthwhile investments, regardless of the precise timeline for the development of the quantum internet.
At Quantum Beyond, our role sits precisely in that space between specialized technology and the operational reality of organizations. We work alongside technology, cybersecurity, and governance teams as well as with the specialized partners able to supply the necessary technologies. Our contribution consists in understanding how these areas of expertise and these infrastructures can work together, assessing dependencies and risks, and then building realistic trajectories that allow organizations to gradually integrate the technologies that become relevant.
Quantum Beyond does not need to build the quantum computer, the repeater, or the network that will transform an industry tomorrow in order to contribute to this evolution. Our value lies in our ability to understand early enough what is changing, to connect these new possibilities to classical infrastructures, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and operations, and then to help organizations determine when and how to act.
Major technological transitions rarely reward haste. They favor the organizations that have developed early enough the knowledge, agility, and decision-making capacity needed to recognize the moment when a technology becomes truly relevant. Preparing for the quantum internet therefore begins well before you have to connect to it.