Insider Brief
- IonQ and Swiss partners launched the Geneva Quantum Network (GQN), Switzerland’s first citywide dedicated quantum network connecting major research, enterprise, and government institutions.
- The network uses existing fiber-optic infrastructure and IDQ’s quantum key distribution systems to enable experiments in quantum communications, entanglement, and ultra-precise time synchronization, according to the company.
- IonQ said the initiative strengthens its global quantum infrastructure strategy, following recent expansions in Italy, the United Kingdom, and South Korea.
- Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
PRESS RELEASE — IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), the world’s leading quantum company, with luminary Swiss partners, successfully deployed a citywide quantum network in Geneva, Switzerland. This consortium of world-class academic, enterprise, and public institutions will advance quantum cybersecurity and communications research, collaboration, and innovation. The new infrastructure, named the Geneva Quantum Network (GQN), is the nation’s first dedicated quantum network connecting key institutions across the region.
“Our involvement in the GQN alongside globally-renowned companies such as Rolex and research leaders like CERN, underscores our IP and pioneering leadership in quantum cybersecurity and communication,” said Niccolo de Masi, Chairman and CEO of IonQ. “IonQ is leveraging existing fiber optic infrastructure to link partners across the Geneva region. Our partnership with leading universities, government, and industry players in Geneva is enabling real-world quantum communications, accelerating research, and building IonQ’s ecosystem across broad sectors of the economy.”
The initiative brings together the University of Geneva (UNIGE), CERN, Rolex SA, the Haute École du Paysage, d’Ingénierie et d’Architecture (HEPIA), and the Cantonal Office for Information Systems and Digital Technology (OCSIN), and IonQ used hundreds of kilometers of existing fiber optic infrastructure to link partners across the Geneva region.
The GQN will enable the distribution of ultra-precise time signals – which are crucial for communications and fundamental time measurement – using the White Rabbit synchronization systems born at CERN. Rolex is providing ultra-precise time signals generated by its latest-generation optical rubidium atomic clock. HEPIA will install a distributed temperature sensor along the network fibers, whose high spatial resolution is made possible using single photon detectors.
The network’s architecture operates on IDQ’s quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum detection systems, deployed across the OCSIN fiber optic backbone. Early experiments will distribute entangled photons between UNIGE, CERN, and HEPIA, enabling exploration of quantum information transfer across distances.
In connecting academic, government, and industry players, IonQ advances its strategy of integrating quantum computing, networking, and sensing to build scalable quantum infrastructure globally. The GQN builds on IonQ’s recent announcement to transform Italy into a quantum hub through its Q-Alliance with the Italian government, the designation of Oxford as IonQ’s EMEA headquarters, and being named the primary quantum partner for Korea’s National Quantum Center of Excellence.
