Cisco Research taps into broader research community for next-generation Quantum research

Cisco Research has started an ambitious Quantum research vision with an aim to develop hardware and software technologies for quantum computing, networking, and cryptography. In a previous blog post, we have already articulated how quantum photonics can be a common workhorse technology for powering them. In addition to in-house research, we are already conducting within Cisco’s Quantum Research team, we have initiated collaborations with several different universities on projects that are well-aligned with our research vision. Our request for proposal (RFP) for Quantum Technologies was posted in January 2021 and immediately received numerous submissions on topics that we have solicited, signifying the amount of activity and interest around quantum technologies in universities, both within US and outside. Cisco accepts and reviews all submissions on a rolling basis and to date has chosen to fund eight Principal Investigators from different universities in the US, UK, and EU. We funded research that cover different layers within the quantum networking and computing technology stacks. Our call for quantum RFP remains open and for the next year, we are specifically interested in the topics below.

• Photon sources and detection technology
• Fabrication methods and materials for photonic IC
• Quantum networks applications
• Quantum cryptography beyond QKD
• Security of quantum cryptography protocols

Post funding, we recently invited and hosted our first ever quantum summit and virtually brought together our funded university principal investigators and other partners, and the broader Cisco community to continue to learn and collaborate with one another. We anticipate results from some of the research projects as early as next fall 2022 and look forward to sharing some of these successes and more about future summits in upcoming blog posts.