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UMass Amherst hosted NeSQom 2026 on Sept. 10–11, bringing together about 50 researchers to identify open problems in hybrid quantum-classical networks. The workshop produced problem statements intended to inform the National Science Foundation’s research agenda; no new NSF program was announced.
UMass Amherst hosted NeSQom 2026 on Sept. 10–11, bringing about 50 researchers from across the United States together to identify research problems in hybrid quantum-classical networks. The workshop produced open-problem statements intended to help inform the National Science Foundation’s research agenda, at a time when quantum networking research is funded through separate programs for physics and classical networking, according to the event’s organizers.
The event, formally called the NSF Workshop on Quantum Communication and Networked Systems, convened researchers in quantum networking, quantum information science, quantum security and classical networking. Organizers Taqi Raza, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UMass Amherst, and Don Towsley, director of the university’s Quantum Information Systems Institute, led the workshop at the campus’s Campus Center.
Its sessions included research talks, panels, breakout sessions and open discussions. Participants considered how future network architecture might draw on classical networking, where quantum systems require different approaches, and what new research questions or abstractions may be needed. The resulting problem statements cover quantum networking, distributed quantum computing, quantum sensing and quantum key establishment, according to the report.
The workshop’s stated purpose was to bring together fields that often approach networked quantum systems separately. Raza said participants worked to identify problems that “cannot be solved within one community alone.” The report does not describe the problem statements as an adopted NSF plan or say that a new funding program has been approved.
Bridging NSF’s Networking Research
The workshop addresses a coordination challenge for research that combines quantum devices and classical network systems. Organizers say NSF currently supports quantum networking through two separate programs, one focused on physics and another on classical networking. Their case for a program centered on hybrid networks is an argument made by the organizers; the source does not report an NSF commitment to create one.
That coordination could matter because networked quantum applications depend on infrastructure as well as quantum hardware. Towsley described entanglement between qubits as a key resource for applications such as distributed quantum computing, sensing and quantum key establishment. A network would need to generate and distribute that resource while also addressing the fragility of quantum information during storage and transmission, Raza said.
For readers, the development is a research-planning step rather than a report of a working quantum internet or a near-term service. The workshop’s value lies in setting out questions for researchers and funders to address across disciplines. Whether that work changes funding priorities or leads to deployable systems remains to be seen.
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From Separate Fields to Networks
Quantum computers use qubits, which can represent a combination of zero and one, while classical computers process information using bits represented as zero or one. Raza said quantum information is fragile, creating challenges for keeping it stable, sending it between systems and operating reliably. The report presents these as research challenges, not as problems resolved at the workshop.
The event focused on connecting quantum communications, computing and sensing with classical networking and systems research. Raza said a quantum internet involves work in networking, computer systems, security and engineering, as well as quantum physics. The workshop’s cross-disciplinary format was designed to bring those communities into the same discussion.
UMass Amherst said the discussions were intended to help NSF understand where additional research is needed. In the source account, that aim follows from the current division of networking research funding between distinct programs. The report supplies no funding totals, proposed budget, or timetable for NSF decisions.
““The workshop’s central theme was how to build the systems architecture for future quantum networks: what ideas can be borrowed from classical networking, what must change because of the unique properties of quantum systems, and what new abstractions and research directions are needed.””
— Taqi Raza, workshop organizer and UMass Amherst assistant professor
Funding Decisions Remain Open
The report does not say whether NSF will use the workshop’s open-problem statements in a formal planning document, change its funding structure or establish a hybrid-network program. It also gives no deadline for a decision or account of any agency response. The organizers’ support for a dedicated program should not be read as an NSF announcement.
Technical questions also remain unresolved. The source describes quantum information as fragile but does not identify a preferred network architecture, demonstrate a new system or quantify when larger-scale networks might be practical. The workshop’s discussions were meant to help define research needs; the source offers no schedule for answering them.
Problem Statements Go to NSF Planning
The immediate next step described by organizers is for the workshop’s open-problem statements to contribute to development of NSF’s quantum computing research agenda. The report does not specify how or when NSF will review them, or whether it will publish a response.
Further progress will depend on researchers developing and testing approaches to network architecture, entanglement distribution and links between quantum and classical systems. Organizers say cross-disciplinary discussion can help identify where work is needed. No follow-up meeting, funding call or deployment milestone is given in the source material.
Key Questions
What was NeSQom 2026?
It was a Sept. 10–11 workshop at UMass Amherst on quantum communication and networked systems, attended by about 50 researchers from across the United States.
What did participants produce?
They produced open-problem statements covering areas that include quantum networking, distributed quantum computing, quantum sensing and quantum key establishment. The statements are intended to inform NSF research planning.
Did NSF announce a new hybrid-network program?
No such announcement is reported. Workshop organizers advocated for an NSF program focused on hybrid classical-quantum networks, but the source gives no agency decision.
Why combine quantum and classical networking research?
Organizers say future quantum networks will need expertise in networking, systems, security and engineering as well as quantum science. They argue that researchers across those fields need to identify shared problems.
Source: rss
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