Qunnect

Qunnect is a hardware company focused on constructing the essential components for scalable quantum networks. A spin-off from the Quantum Information Technology group at Stony Brook University, the company was founded in 2017 by Mael Flament, Mehdi Namazi, Eden Figueroa, and Robert Brill. The founders' journey began during their graduate studies, where they developed a room-temperature quantum memory, a foundational technology for the company. Mehdi Namazi, with a Ph.D. in Physics from Stony Brook and a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale's Quantum Institute, co-founded the company to commercialize this research. Mael Flament serves as the Chief Technology Officer, leading engineering efforts. In 2020, Noel Goddard, a serial entrepreneur with a background in physics and experience as a seed investor, joined as CEO to drive growth and commercialization.

The company engineers and manufactures hardware to convert existing telecommunications infrastructure into quantum-secure communication networks. Qunnect's business model revolves around selling this hardware to a range of clients, including those in financial services, energy infrastructure, telecommunications, and defense. By providing the physical devices required, Qunnect enables these industries to build and test entanglement-based quantum networks. The company operates in the emerging quantum networking market, aiming to provide the foundational infrastructure for a future quantum internet, which will support applications like distributed quantum computing and enhanced sensing, in addition to secure communications.

Qunnect's core product is a suite of quantum networking hardware, including the flagship Carina product suite and the QU-SOURCE. A key feature of Qunnect's technology is that its devices operate at room temperature, eliminating the need for complex and costly cryogenic cooling and making them field-deployable within standard server racks. This allows for integration into existing telecom fiber optic networks. The product suite includes quantum memory (the first commercialized in 2021), entanglement sources, and tools for polarization stabilization, which are all critical for distributing entangled photons over long distances. The QU-SOURCE generates pairs of entangled photons at telecom wavelengths, compatible with both fiber networks and atomic-based quantum devices. This technology has been demonstrated on the company's own quantum network testbeds, such as GothamQ in New York City and another in Berlin, proving its capability over metropolitan-scale distances.

Keywords: quantum networking, entanglement distribution, quantum hardware, quantum memory, telecommunications infrastructure, quantum security, fiber optic networks, photon sources, quantum internet, room-temperature quantum devices, secure communications, Mael Flament, Mehdi Namazi, Noel Goddard, GothamQ, quantum repeaters, entanglement-based protocols, scalable quantum networks, field-deployable quantum tech, distributed quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum communication