Towards a unified control plane for quantum networks

In the Netherlands, several activities are taking place in the field of quantum network infrastructures. These focus on the hardware and software necessary for new services based on Quantum Information Networks (QIN) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). Quantum Delta NL (QDNL) aims to unify these developments into a national quantum network.  

To achieve this goal, QDNL’s partners collaborating on this topic should harmonise their terminology and views, specifically on the control functionality of the quantum network. Such a harmonised view is what SURF and TNO set out to achieve together with QDNL and their partners.

In a first phase, SURF and TNO conducted interviews with national and international stakeholders, as a starting point for the discussion within the CAT-2 programme. These discussions took place in several workshops over the course of 2023 with one final workshop in 2024. The result was a consensus on how to align the different developments towards a national quantum network.

To dive deeper into the findings and recommendations, read the full white paper below.