Networks Should Prepare Now for Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is coming and providers should get ready now, experts said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday. Quantum is “the technology arms race of our time and he who cracks the quantum computer” and quantum communications “is going to rule the world,” said Ryan Lafler, president and chief technology officer at tech company Quantum Corridor.

Traditional supercomputers aren’t smart, just very fast, and they solve problems through “rapid trial and error,” Lafler said. “They’re not capable of instantaneous processing of information,” but quantum is, he added.

Traditional encryption won’t be “hefty enough” to “stomach brute force attacks” from quantum computers, Lafler said. DOD is focused on technology to solve that threat, he said: “It’s very, very important because you’re not just talking about the collapse of financial markets. You’re talking about potentially getting a hold of military secrets” and nuclear codes, he said.

Quantum computing should complement what networks are already doing, said Vaibhav Garg, executive director-cybersecurity and privacy research and public policy research at Comcast Cable. Providers may use classical computing for “run-of-the-mill problems” and quantum for more difficult issues, he said.

Quantum allows solving problems in near real time, including penetrating networks, Garg said. Penetrating encryption systems that would take hundreds of years under classical computing may take only a few days or weeks using quantum technology, he said.

We need to start building quantum-secure networks “right now,” Garg said. A bad actor could otherwise collect and store all the data on a network, “and wait until a large enough quantum computer is built to actually decrypt and analyze" it, he said. That raises data security and national security concerns, he said.

Education is important, Garg added. Most current programmers and software and app developers lack quantum computing training, he said: Start with quantum training in schools.

Quantum is “scary” and “exciting,” said Fiber Broadband Association President-CEO Gary Bolton. “It’s no secret that quantum computing is coming very quickly,” he said. Quantum focuses on the “micro world, where matter doesn’t have to behave in the same way as the macro world,” which is “very unintuitive,” he said. “We are right on the cusp of some major paradigm shifts,” he said.

Quantum technology can create “unhackable” networks and speed medical research, Bolton said. Quantum sensors will “detect the tiniest vibrations” before an earthquake, giving people more time to get to safety, he said. “We’re going to be able to cure cancer, dementia, actually build [car] batteries that last more than 300 miles,” he said.

Bad actors are already working on using quantum technology to penetrate the U.S. military and disrupt the global economy, Bolton said. Quantum computing will require quantum networks and fiber connections, he said. “I’m talking to quantum physicists every day to say … is there something that we need to do differently in our fiber networks to make sure that we enable this quantum future or the AI future,” he said.