Quantum networks don't exist unless you know they exist, apparently.
'Quantum network? We've had one for years,' says Los Alamos
The boffins at the Los Alamos National Laboratory are known as a secretive lot; a much understated lot, in fact. Rather than cause a fuss, researchers there have quietly published a paper showing they've had a flexible quantum network – something rather a lot of people are interested in – up and running for two and a half years...
There are several companies and research groups working on this, but there's been limited progress so far. But the team at Los Alamos think it's cracked this with a hub-and-spoke design they call network-centric quantum communications (NQC), and report that it's easy to run, reasonably scalable, and runs on relatively cheap hardware.
To get around the problem of routing quantum bits, the NQC hub (named Trent) decodes the incoming message, transmits it to the new spoke, reencodes it and fires it off. It handles encryption key distribution, and the system maintains the advantages of quantum cryptography while dramatically increasing the value of the network by connecting more users.
I like the "relatively cheap hardware" bit. I can't wait to use AUTH_QUANTUM for my RPC connections.
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