Toward a Quantum-Native Internet From Architecture to Protocol Organization

Why It Matters

By treating entanglement as a network resource, the quantum‑native Internet promises capabilities—secure communication, distributed quantum computing—that cannot be achieved with today’s architecture, driving a new wave of investment and standards.

Key Takeaways

• Entanglement replaces information as core network resource for future.
• Quantum control plane must be separated from data plane.
• Classical addressing insufficient; dual quantum‑classical addressing required for network orchestration.
• Rigid layering fails; micro‑protocols adapt to entanglement state through dynamic composition.
• QNS3 simulator enables scalable testing of quantum‑native architectures for future internet.

Summary

The talk argues that the next‑generation Internet must be re‑engineered around entanglement, a non‑local quantum resource, rather than the classical packet‑centric model. Entanglement’s stateful, volatile nature forces a fundamental redesign of architecture, control, and protocol organization.

Key insights include the mandatory decoupling of a quantum data plane (handling generation, purification, swapping) from a quantum control plane that orchestrates entanglement across the network. Classical IP‑style addressing cannot track entanglement links, so a dual addressing scheme—classical for signaling and quantum for resource identification—is proposed, along with two parallel routing tables reflecting physical and entanglement graphs.

The speaker emphasizes that traditional layered stacks break down because entanglement descriptors (fidelity, coherence budget, ownership) must be visible across all layers. Instead, a micro‑protocol composition model driven by local resource state is suggested. The QNS3 simulator, built on ns‑3, demonstrates these concepts by emulating quantum state dynamics alongside classical control.

If adopted, these quantum‑native principles will reshape telecom infrastructure, demanding new hardware, software, and standards, while opening markets for quantum‑enhanced security, distributed computing, and ultra‑low‑latency services.

Original Description

Title: Toward a Quantum-Native Internet from Architecture to Protocol Organization

Date: April 9, 2026

Duration: 1HR

ABSTRACT

Quantum entanglement is the key network resource of the Quantum Internet, challenging several design principles that underpin the classical Internet. This talk discusses emerging “quantum-native” tenets spanning architecture and protocol organization: control/data-plane separation tailored to entanglement orchestration, quantum-aware addressing and routing, and a protocol-organization approach that moves beyond rigid layering toward context-driven composition and in-band control. To keep the discussion grounded, the talk also touches on how these ideas can be explored at scale using an extensible co-simulation framework, Q2NS, which integrates quantum primitives with the established classical networking stack.

SPEAKER

Angela Sara Cacciapuoti

Professor of Quantum Communications and Networks, University of Naples Federico II (Italy)

MODERATOR

Rajkumar Kettimuthu

Senior Scientist and Group Leader, Argonne National Laboratory