Berenice Baker
Verified
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Covers:
Quantum computing, post-quantum security, AI cloud and datacentre infrastructure, physical AI, industrial robotics and autonomous systems
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Articles by Berenice Baker
AI Vendor Lock-In: When an Integrated Stack Becomes a Liability
Buying more of the AI stack from one vendor can speed deployment, but it can also create lock-in. Here's how to tell when integration has gone too far. Key Takeaways Integration benefits. Buying more of the AI stack from one supplier can speed deployment, improve performance and simplify accountability. Deeper lock-in. AI vendor lock-in reaches beyond infrastructure into model behavior, business logic, data pipelines, agent orchestration and governance. The tipping points.
EU backs QIA quantum network prototype with €47.5M grant
The Quantum Internet Alliance (QIA) received €47.5 million from the European Commission to build a programmable quantum network prototype, with the goal of connecting two metropolitan-scale networks using quantum repeaters. QIA is a European consortium of universities, research institutes, and companies developing quantum internet hardware and software. Its members include QuTech, Delft Networks, telecom operators TIM and Telefónica, and internet exchange operator AMS-IX.
CTM and Huawei integrate QKD into Macau IP network
Macau telecom operator Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau (CTM) and Huawei launched an IP network incorporating quantum key distribution (QKD), with plans to offer quantum-secured private lines to government and enterprise customers. The partners said the network is intended to protect sensitive communications, including financial transactions, government services, and critical infrastructure. They also plan to develop private-line products and accelerate their deployment on live networks.
Cloudflare plans public certificate authority with post-quantum option
Cloudflare plans to become a public certificate authority (CA), giving website operators another source of the digital certificates used to prove a site’s identity and establish secure connections. It also intends to issue Merkle Tree Certificates (MTCs), designed to make post-quantum authentication practical without slowing web connections. The company has applied for inclusion in the Chrome, Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla root programs.
SK Telecom builds digital twin to test quantum networks before deployment
SK Telecom (SKT) and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) developed a digital twin that lets operators test a quantum key distribution (QKD) network before installing equipment. The system, which was unveiled at this year's ECOC optical communications conference, connects SKT’s quantum key manager to a KISTI-developed QKD simulator. QKD uses quantum signals to establish shared cryptographic keys.
What is post-quantum cryptography? A practical guide to surviving Q-day
Q-day is shorthand for the point when a cryptographically relevant quantum computer can break widely used public-key cryptography. Preparations for Q-day have drawn comparisons with Y2K, but the analogy is useful only up to a point. Before the calendar rolled over to 2000, organizations had to find, update, and test systems that might mishandle the new date. PQC migration requires a similarly extensive technology overhaul, but without Y2K’s fixed deadline. What is post-quantum cryptography?
Quantum link shares deployed fiber with 400G Ethernet and 5G
Quantum networks could share fiber with conventional telecom traffic instead of requiring operators to provide separate dark fiber, according to a new experiment by researchers at Duke University and the University of Maryland. The team distributed ion-photon entanglement over a 1.7 mile (2.8 kilometer) deployed fiber loop carrying Ethernet traffic at 400 gigabits per second (Gb/s) and an analog 5G radio-over-fiber signal.
What It Actually Takes to Run AI Robots at Enterprise Scale
Thousands of robots, 4 terabytes of data a day, 5 millimeters to spare. Inside the infrastructure it takes to scale AI-powered robot fleets. Key Takeaways Distributed intelligence. Intelligent robot fleets require distributed computing across onboard, edge and cloud infrastructure, with critical functions able to continue during connectivity failures. Scalable operations.
Inside Anyware Robotics' first sale
When Anyware Robotics began commercializing its Pixmo industrial robot in 2025, CEO Thomas Tang was not looking for a customer willing to buy a finished product. He was looking for one prepared to help build it. That customer was Saddle Creek Logistics, a major US third-party logistics provider. The company was looking for a way to automate unloading floor-loaded shipping containers, a physically demanding warehouse task. Saddle Creek stood out because it wasn't new to robotics.
The secret to a robot's first sale? Honesty
When Zach Rash and Brad Squicciarini founded Coco Robotics in early 2020, the timing could hardly have been better. Or worse. The Los Angeles startup launched just as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, accelerating demand for doorstep food and grocery delivery almost overnight. The timing created both an opportunity and a challenge. While demand for delivery surged during the pandemic, supply chain disruptions made it difficult for the young company to source reliable components.
Why general-purpose robots start with the jobs nobody wants
Picture an industrial robot and you’ll probably imagine one of two extremes. Either the fixed arms that have been carrying out repetitive tasks on factory production lines for decades, or the humanoid robots increasingly filling technology company demonstrations. Thomas Tang, co-founder and CEO of Anyware Robotics, believes the future lies somewhere between those two approaches.
Teaching robots how cities work
If you've ordered takeout from Uber Eats in Austin or Miami, there's a chance your food was delivered by a robot. What looks like a last-mile delivery is also a training exercise for the next generation of autonomous systems. Companies including Coco Robotics and Avride are using commercial deployments to generate the operational data needed to improve autonomous systems and expand delivery into more cities.
Can ‘team rainbow’ loosen CUDA’s grip on AI?
LONDON – Escaping Nvidia’s AI hardware ecosystem may not require developers to escape its CUDA parallel computing platform at all. Instead, CUDA could become a common programming model, with compilers translating its code for different accelerator architectures. Michael Søndergaard, CEO of Spectral Compute, advanced that proposition during a fireside chat at this week’s Xcelerated Compute Show.
Europe may lose the AI ‘bragawatt’ race, but that might not matter
– Berenice Baker/SDxCentral LONDON – Europe may not be able to match the giant AI data centers rising across the U.S., but panelists at this week’s Xcelerated Compute event argued that chasing raw gigawatts could be the wrong race anyway. The more realistic opportunity may lie in smaller inference facilities closer to users, infrastructure for Europe’s software innovators, and getting viable capacity online before today’s assumptions become obsolete. That does not mean the market will be small.
Cloudflare: 45 billion daily connections see automated post-quantum key exchange
Cloudflare has begun automatically selecting post-quantum key exchange for connections to compatible origin servers, with protected traffic reaching about 45 billion connections per day as transport layer security (TLS) handshake delays fall. The company’s new Automatic Key Exchange capability probes origin servers to determine which cryptographic algorithms they support, then selects the strongest compatible option when establishing a TLS 1.3 connection.
NEC drops quantum hardware while advancing quantum-secure networks
– Sundry Photography/Getty Images NEC has stopped developing quantum computer hardware after concluding that commercialization would take too long to deliver an adequate return on investment. Per Nikkei Asia, the Japanese technology company ended development of physical quantum computing systems at the end of March. It will instead concentrate on related technologies and services, including quantum-inspired computing performed on conventional hardware.
US Army tests QuSecure post-quantum security on tactical networks
QuSecure’s post-quantum security platform has reached Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL 7) after soldiers used it to protect and monitor tactical mission systems during a U.S. Army field exercise. QuProtect R3 met the TRL 7 criterion of demonstrating a system prototype in an operational environment.
Canada commits $140M to Xanadu quantum manufacturing project
The Canadian government has agreed to provide Xanadu Quantum Technologies, a Canadian photonic quantum computing company, with up to $140 million toward a $643 million manufacturing project in Toronto. The conditionally repayable contribution will come through Canada’s Strategic Response Fund and cover no more than 22.1% of eligible costs for Project Optimism. Xanadu is responsible for the remaining project costs and any overruns, according to a funding agreement filed with securities regulators.
Brookhaven, Stony Brook transmit entangled photons over 13-mile free-space link
– Jennifer Abramowitz/Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have transmitted entangled photons over a 13-mile free-space optical link, adding a wireless connection to an existing 161-mile, eight-node quantum network. The demonstration, announced August 21, is the first free-space optical (FSO) quantum link of its kind in the U.S., according to the institutions.
DARPA backs Qunnect upgrade for more resilient quantum networks
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Qunnect a contract to develop a next-generation rack for the vendor's Carina turnkey entanglement distribution platform. The funding will advance Carina’s polarization-compensation technology, which continuously detects and corrects changes that could corrupt entangled-photon signals traveling over deployed telecom fiber.
Qunnect, Monarch partner on compact quantum networking hardware
Quantum networking company Qunnect partnered with photonics specialist Monarch Quantum to develop more compact and manufacturable versions of its entanglement distribution hardware. The companies will adapt Qunnect’s Carina platform for environments where size, weight, power consumption, and operational flexibility are critical. Target applications include satellites, defense platforms, edge computing infrastructure, remote facilities, telecommunications networks, and IoT deployments.
BTQ validates compute-in-memory accelerator for quantum-proof cryptography
BTQ Technologies and Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) completed the first validation milestone for a hardware architecture designed to accelerate post-quantum cryptography (PQC). The organizations validated BTQ’s Quantum Compute-in-Memory (QCIM) architecture in a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) 28-nanometer design environment, confirming the design's feasibility and functional correctness before fabrication as a test chip.
Quantum networking roadmap identifies infrastructure priorities
Quantum optical switches, repeaters, and satellite infrastructure are the technologies most likely to unlock commercially viable quantum networking, according to a new roadmap from the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C). Developed with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Quantum Networks and industry partners, the report evaluates 10 commercially significant quantum networking applications.
NTT invests in OptQC to accelerate optical quantum computing
NTT has invested in optical quantum computing startup OptQC, expanding a research collaboration launched last year into a broader commercial partnership targeting a fault-tolerant one-million-qubit optical quantum computer by fiscal 2030. The alliance brings together NTT's expertise in optical networking, communications, and data center infrastructure with OptQC's photonic quantum computing technology. Neither company disclosed the value of the investment.
AT&T expands D-Wave quantum network optimization partnership
AT&T expanded its agreement with D-Wave Quantum to apply quantum computing to complex network optimization challenges. In an early application, AT&T reduced the processing time for a network optimization workload from about one hour to less than 15 seconds using D-Wave's annealing quantum technology.
PSC to deploy hybrid quantum-HPC testbed with Rigetti, HPE
James Barr von Oehsen, PSC’s executive director – Tom Altany/University of Pittsburgh The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) is partnering with Rigetti Computing and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to deploy a hybrid quantum-classical supercomputer. The TangleLab testbed pairs Rigetti's 9-qubit Novera quantum processing unit (QPU) with GPU-accelerated compute nodes, storage, and networking.
NTT invests in OptQC to accelerate optical quantum computing
NTT has invested in Japenese optical quantum computing startup OptQC, expanding a research collaboration launched last year into a broader commercial partnership targeting a fault-tolerant 1-million-qubit optical quantum computer by fiscal 2030. The alliance brings together NTT's expertise in optical networking, communications, and data center infrastructure with OptQC's photonic quantum computing technology. Neither company disclosed the value of the investment.
Quantinuum explores alternative route to fault-tolerant quantum computing
Quantinuum researchers have demonstrated a technique for fault-tolerant quantum computing that could reduce reliance on magic state distillation, one of the most resource-intensive techniques used in many quantum computing architectures. The researchers achieved this by demonstrating a universal set of quantum gates using non-Abelian anyons, a type of quasiparticle that could enable a topological approach to quantum computing.
US moves to strengthen quantum hardware supply chain with isotope breakthrough
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has developed domestic technologies to produce high-purity silicon and germanium precursor materials for quantum devices, a move that comes as the U..S. seeks to strengthen critical supply chains for next-generation computing hardware.
QuiX targets data center deployment with photonic quantum computing platform
QuiX Quantum announced Carina, a photonic quantum computing platform designed for deployment in customer data centers. Developed as part of the German Aerospace Center's Quantum Computing Initiative (DLR QCI), Carina brings together photon generation, multiplexing, cluster-state generation, real-time feed-forward control, and photonic assembly management into a single measurement-based quantum computing stack.
LG U+ proposes latency targets for quantum-safe networks
South Korean telecom operator LG U+ is backing a new effort to develop quality-of-service (QoS) guidance for communications secured using post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and quantum key distribution (QKD). The proposal, submitted to the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), addresses a practical challenge for telecom operators as they deploy quantum-safe security.
Quantum sensing targets industrial, data center energy optimization
Deep-tech startup xDots unveiled a quantum sensing system designed to capture ultra-precise power consumption data that could help data center operators and industrial facilities identify energy saving opportunities that conventional monitoring systems may miss. The company introduced its xSee device at Quantum Korea 2026 in Seoul, positioning it as the hardware foundation of its xEnergy optimization platform.
Michigan State's diamond defect keeps quantum data alive 1,000x longer using light
Researchers at Michigan State University have demonstrated a nickel-vacancy (NiV⁻) qubit with more than a millisecond of coherence under all-optical control. The study suggests that the diamond-based platform could overcome longstanding trade-offs in spin-photon interfaces for quantum networking.
Atom Computing, Nu Quantum partner on quantum networking infrastructure
Atom Computing and Nu Quantum have announced a strategic partnership to develop networking technologies designed to scale quantum computers beyond the limits of individual quantum processing units (QPUs) and toward utility-scale systems. The companies said they will explore integrating Atom Computing's neutral-atom quantum computers with Nu Quantum's photonic networking hardware. The collaboration aims to connect multiple processors into larger distributed architectures.
Orca deploys quantum computer to major Japanese enterprise customer
Photonic quantum computing company Orca Computing has deployed one of its PT-2 quantum systems to a major enterprise customer in Japan. The installation marks the first commercial deployment of an Orca photonic quantum computer within an enterprise environment.
QuEra, AWS target fault-tolerant quantum computing on Amazon Braket by 2028
QuEra Computing and Amazon Web Services (AWS) say they plan to make a fault-tolerant quantum computer available through Amazon Braket in 2028, setting one of the quantum industry's most concrete timelines to date. QuEra said its planned Libra system is being designed as a Megaquop-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer capable of performing approximately 1 million logical quantum operations.
Light-driven memory breakthrough targets AI power consumption
Researchers at Japan's National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) have demonstrated a magnetic memory material that can be rewritten using ultrashort laser pulses instead of electric current. The team says the approach could help reduce the energy consumed by future AI systems and data center infrastructure.
NTT, Mbryonics target optical backbone for emerging 'Internet in Space'
Irish satellite optical communications company Mbryonics is partnering with NTT to develop optical networking technology for space communications, reflecting a broader push to make orbital networks operate more like terrestrial telecom infrastructure. The companies describe their vision as an "Internet in Space," a standardized communications layer that would enable different satellite constellations, orbital transport networks, and terrestrial infrastructure to interoperate more seamlessly.
SpaceX pitches Starlink as telecom infrastructure
SpaceX's IPO filing may be filled with talk of Mars colonization, orbital AI data centers, and humanity among the stars. But beneath Elon Musk's space-age rhetoric lies a more terrestrial reality: Starlink is increasingly becoming a major connectivity and networking business. The filing reveals that SpaceX's Connectivity segment generated $11.4 billion in revenue in 2025, nearly three times the $4.1bn generated by its launch business.
AWS launches Graviton5-powered EC2 instances
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made its Graviton5-powered Amazon EC2 M9g and M9gd instances generally available, positioning the processor as infrastructure for a new generation of AI workloads that place growing demands on CPUs alongside GPUs and other accelerators. First previewed at AWS re:Invent 2025, the new instances are powered by the AWS Graviton5 processor and built on the sixth-generation AWS Nitro System.
Behind the rockets, SpaceX pitches Starlink as telecom infrastructure
SpaceX's IPO filing may be filled with talk of Mars colonization, orbital AI data centers, and humanity among the stars. But beneath Elon Musk's space-age rhetoric lies a more terrestrial reality: Starlink is increasingly becoming a major connectivity and networking business. The filing reveals that SpaceX's Connectivity segment generated $11.4 billion in revenue in 2025, nearly three-times the $4.1 billion generated by its launch business.
AWS adopts random graph network architecture as default cloud fabric
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has detailed a new cloud networking architecture based on random graph theory that it says is now the default fabric for its general-purpose cloud infrastructure worldwide. The architecture, known as Resilient Network Graphs (RNG), replaces traditional hierarchical "fat-tree" network designs with a flatter topology intended to improve resilience, throughput, and efficiency at hyperscale.
AWS adopts random graph network architecture as default cloud fabric
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has detailed a new cloud networking architecture based on random graph theory that it says is now the default fabric for its general-purpose cloud infrastructure worldwide. The architecture, known as Resilient Network Graphs (RNG), replaces traditional hierarchical "fat-tree" network designs with a flatter topology intended to improve resilience, throughput, and efficiency at hyperscale.
Google outlines unified AI networking architecture spanning data centers and WAN
Google has described how it is evolving its networking infrastructure to support AI workloads, bringing together a series of recent technologies into a unified architecture spanning accelerator fabrics, data center networks, and global backbone connectivity.
Qumulo launches Cloud AI Accelerator for distributed AI workloads
Qumulo has launched Cloud AI Accelerator, a data platform that enables enterprises to access distributed datasets across cloud, edge, and on-premises environments in real time. The offering combines Qumulo's Cloud Data Fabric, Cloud Native Qumulo, and NeuralCache technologies to enable AI workloads to access data across clouds, regions, and hybrid environments without replication or staging delays.
Patero and Orilla post-quantum platform targets industrial edge AI security
Patero and Orilla partnered to deliver a scalable quantum-safe platform designed to secure industrial AI deployments at the edge. The initiative comes as organizations increasingly look to protect operational technology and long-lived infrastructure from future quantum threats. The companies said the joint offering combines Orilla’s edge-native industrial AI and DataOps platform with Patero’s post-quantum encryption and secure communications technology.
Why humanoid robots are taking off at airports
Passengers arriving at San José Mineta International Airport’s Terminal B are greeted by a humanoid robot named José. Mounted to a fixed base behind an information desk, José greets travelers and switches to the language they speak, answering questions about flights, baggage and directions. What engineers behind José are really testing is whether an AI system can stay accurate and responsive inside infrastructure built long before anyone imagined it would need to serve a robot.
Microsoft pitches Azure Linux for AI-native infrastructure
Microsoft used the Open Source Summit North America 2026 event to position open-source infrastructure and hardened Linux distributions as foundational components for emerging AI-native and agentic workloads. The company announced the upcoming public preview of Azure Linux 4.0 for Azure Virtual Machines alongside the general availability of Azure Container Linux, its immutable container-optimized operating system for cloud-native environments.
Dell expands AI Factory with focus on enterprise-controlled agentic AI
Dell Technologies is expanding its Dell AI Factory with Nvidia portfolio, positioning enterprise-controlled infrastructure as the foundation for scaling agentic AI workloads from local systems to the data center. New additions to the Dell AI Factory portfolio span agentic AI deployment, data orchestration, rack-scale infrastructure, cooling, governance, and ecosystem integrations.
Ericsson researchers explore hybrid quantum-classical approaches for RAN planning
A team of researchers at Ericsson has found that hybrid quantum-classical computing techniques could improve radio access network (RAN) planning and optimization as mobile networks become more complex and dynamic. Writing in a technical blog post, the researchers argued that existing heuristic-based planning tools are struggling to keep pace with ultra-dense 5G deployments, increasingly dynamic traffic patterns, and the growing complexity expected in future 6G networks.
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