Quantum network

A quantum network is a distributed communication infrastructure that connects quantum devices — computers, sensors, and repeaters — through quantum channels that preserve entanglement and coherence. Unlike classical networks, which route bits through switches and routers, quantum networks route quantum states and entanglement, requiring fundamentally different protocols and hardware.

The core challenge of quantum networking is that quantum states cannot be copied or amplified, making every intermediate node a potential point of failure. A quantum network must support entanglement swapping to extend connectivity beyond direct transmission range, quantum teleportation to transfer unknown states between nodes, and quantum memory to buffer entangled pairs while classical coordination completes. These requirements make the quantum network a systems problem, not merely a physical layer problem.

The quantum network is not an upgraded internet. It is an entirely different kind of infrastructure, built on principles — no-cloning, entanglement, measurement disturbance — that violate the assumptions underlying every classical networking protocol. Treating it as an incremental improvement is a category error that will produce decades of misinvestment. The quantum network is to the classical internet what the nervous system is to a telegraph network: not faster, but structurally different.