Insider Brief
- Nu Quantum has unveiled the Quantum Networking Unit (QNU), the first rack-mounted, modular platform designed to distribute real-time entanglement across quantum data centers.
- Developed under the UK’s SBRI and integrated with CERN’s White Rabbit technology, the QNU enables scalable, high-fidelity, sub-nanosecond entanglement and orchestration across multiple quantum processors.
- Built for commercial deployment, the QNU separates optical and control modules, supports trapped-ion systems, and represents a foundational step toward distributed, interconnected quantum computing at scale.
PRESS RELEASE – Nu Quantum, the quantum computing scale-out company, announces the world’s first modular, rack-mounted, datacentre compatible Quantum Networking Unit (QNU) – a key technology breakthrough to enable real-time entanglement distribution across quantum datacentres.
Designed for scalability, modularity and real-world deployment, the QNU marks a critical step in moving quantum networking from lab demonstrations to commercial infrastructure.
Unlocking Distributed Quantum Computing
At the heart of a distributed quantum computing system, the QNU brokers entanglement links between multiple quantum processors, enabling them to operate coherently as one, more powerful computer. This modular, networked approach enables quantum systems to scale beyond the physical limits of individual devices.
Developed under the UK Government’s Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI), the QNU is set to be deployed in Nu Quantum’s multi-node quantum networking testbed, aligned with the next phase of its technical roadmap.
Nu Quantum’s QNU product-prototype is designed to entangle a cluster of four trapped-ion quantum processors. The system’s optical performance supports the generation of high-fidelity and high-rate entanglement between interconnected processors, meeting the requirements of near-term distributed quantum computing systems.
Built for Scale, Performance and Compatibility
The QNU is a market-first industrialised instantiation of two essential parts of the distributed quantum computing stack: creating high-fidelity entanglement and time-synchronised control-plane orchestration respectively.
The photonic dynamic entangler system enables the creation of real-time heralded entanglement between photons from any two nodes, in a dynamically-reconfigurable manner thanks to sub-microsecond circuit switching. With less than 3×10-3 Bell-state measurement error introduced by the optical path, the QNU hardware can deliver a maximum of up to 99.7% entanglement fidelity between remote qubits; hence supporting both high fidelity and high success probabilities.
The QNU features the first industrialised realtime quantum network orchestrator, delivering 300 ns control latency, synchronisation over datacentre length scales and supporting MHz entanglement attempt rate.
In parallel, Nu Quantum has built a scalable control architecture for distributed timing and feed-forward, and is collaborating with CERN to integrate CERN-born White Rabbit technology into the QNU to enable improved timing synchronisation. This level of sub-nanosecond timing precision is critical to ensure reliable entanglement distribution across multiple nodes, a key requirement for modular architectures and scaling quantum computing networks to data centre-scale.
The launch of the QNU marks a key milestone in Nu Quantum’s technical roadmap, complementing last year’s announcement of the Qubit-Photon Interface for coupling qubits with photonic networks. Together, they are a leading architectural solution for distributed quantum computing, and a step towards a ‘quantum network layer’, where remote entanglement between discrete quantum processors is subsumed into an abstracted layer of the quantum computing stack.
Robust, Modular and Future Proof Design
The QNU separates the control and orchestration planes from the optical plane into distinct modules, connected by a well-defined interface.This modular architecture allows the optics module to be swapped out to support different qubit types, network scales and applications, providing compatibility with upgrades and customisations, which may include a range of channel count and custom wavelength options.
The QNU is a complete stand-alone system ready for integration with qubits. It is 19’’ rack mounted, air-cooled and datacentre-ready.
Developed with Industry Feedback
Throughout the development, Nu Quantum worked closely with potential customers from across the quantum computing stack, from qubit providers to system integrators and end-users, to gather technical feedback on commercial and deployment requirements such as datacentre-compatibility.
Delivering a Foundational Building Block for Quantum Networking
The ultimate goal of quantum computing is to solve problems beyond the reach of even the most powerful classical systems. Scaling to system sizes that can tackle these problems remains an open challenge in the industry, and the possibility of interconnecting tens to thousands of quantum processors opens a new, modular pathway to achieving large-scale, useful machines.
With the launch of its product-prototype QNU, Nu Quantum is delivering a foundational building-block for this vision – demonstrating the maturity of the technology and enabling real-world quantum connectivity beyond the confines of the lab.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Carmen Palacios-Berraquero, Founder and CEO of Nu Quantum, said: “This launch marks a significant step forward in the maturity of quantum networking technology. I am proud of the team for having executed the proposal flawlessly to deliver a market-first product which moves the needle in both maturity and performance. With our Quantum Networking Unit positioned at the heart of modular quantum architectures, we’re moving quantum networking from academic research to practical, datacentre-ready deployment. Our focus now is on working closely with partners and customers to build scalable, modular quantum systems that deliver real commercial value.”
Dr Bob Sutor, Board Member of Nu Quantum, CEO and Founder, Sutor Group Intelligence and Advisory added: “This launch represents a major milestone for the quantum industry, introducing the first practical solution for scalable quantum networking in distributed quantum computing. We will only achieve the large and powerful quantum computing systems we need by networking together the smaller devices now in development using the technology Nu Quantum has prototyped. This achievement ushers in a new era of interconnected and powerful quantum technologies.”
