The capital raise marks the final milestone of a successful year-long restructuring effort and positions Zapata to accelerate its role in advancing the application layer of quantum computing. “We’ve completed our restructuring and emerged stronger than ever,” said Sumit Kapur, Chief Executive Officer of Zapata Quantum. “This financing is a strong vote of confidence from long-term, fundamentals-oriented investors and positions us to scale at a critical moment as quantum computing transitions from technical progress to transformational real-world value creation.”

“Zapata stands out for its commitment to technical rigor, deep portfolio of foundational IP, and proven experience helping enterprises advance in their quantum journey,” said Jeff Huber, General Partner of Triatomic Capital. “We’re proud to support Zapata’s growth as it continues to demonstrate leadership in translating quantum advantage into quantum utility.”

Also Read: IonQ and Florida LambdaRail Launch First Statewide Quantum-Safe Network Initiative in United States

Leadership in Quantum Value Creation

Since emerging from Harvard’s Quantum Computing Lab in 2017, Zapata has led foundational work advancing real-world quantum applications across Fortune 500 enterprises and the public sector, spanning high-value domains including cryptography, pharmaceuticals, finance, materials discovery, and defense.

A recent example of Zapata’s work highlighting quantum-enabled drug discovery was selected as one of Nature Biotechnology’s top 10 scientific papers of 2025, and featured as the journal’s December 2025 cover. The study, co-authored with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, University of Toronto, and Insilico Medicine, focused on targeting the KRAS mutation in cancer therapy—serving as a proof point of Zapata’s capabilities and quantum computing’s massive potential to generate viable drug candidates in the biotech domain.

Scaling at a Critical Moment for Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is entering a phase of increasing enterprise relevance, with rapid hardware progress fueling growing sophistication in algorithms and implementations. At the same time, a gap remains between technical advancement and the ability to develop validated, high-value applications for enterprise problems. Zapata is focused on closing this gap by providing enterprises with the intelligence and tooling required to move from experimentation to production-ready solutions.

The strategic investment by Triatomic and others underscores Zapata’s mission to solve the quantum application bottleneck and represents a key next step in the company’s progress in the public market.

Funding will be used to scale Zapata’s platform and team across science, engineering, product, and commercial functions. As an AI-native company, Zapata is structured to deploy this capital efficiently—leveraging AI-driven development and strategic partnerships, including its collaboration with the University of Maryland on formal validation of quantum algorithms, to extend capabilities, accelerate development, and maximize runway.

“We are already firing on all cylinders: scientifically, technically, and commercially,” said Kapur. “This capital is jet fuel. It allows us to scale across every dimension. I couldn’t be more grateful or excited for the journey ahead as we continue toward our true north as the foundational hardware-agnostic quantum software platform.”

Source: BusinessWire

The post Zapata Quantum Completes Oversubscribed $15 Million Strategic Financing, Capping Successful Restructuring appeared first on ITDigest.

NeuraWave offers a sensor-based processing solution that can operate at ultra-low latency and on low power. It is well suited for applications such as time-series forecasting, anomaly detection, and modern signal processing.

The solution will enable numerous applications such as telecommunications, autonomous vehicles robotics healthcare, industrial monitoring and many more. Due to its scalable architecture and dimensions similar to a regular PCIe server card, it can be deployed in edge/embedded systems to bring AI to the edge of the network.

Also Read: IQM Introduces AI-Powered Calibration to Make Quantum Computing Enterprise-Ready

“This marks an important step forward for photonic computing, bringing it out of the laboratory and into the hands of users that require real-time and energy-efficient AI inference,” said Dr. Yong Meng Sua, Chief Technology Officer of QCi. “NeuraWave demonstrates how our photonic approach can move beyond research and into practical AI and machine learning systems.”

“With the form factor of a standard server PCIe plug-in card, NeuraWave brings photonic computing to AI at the edge. By processing data with light instead of electrons, we’re creating a fundamentally different approach to real-time analysis, one that has the potential to unlock capabilities beyond what traditional electronic chips can achieve,” said Prajnesh Kumar, Quantum Technology Lead at QCi.

Launch fits into the wider QCi strategy, to market photonic and quantum-inspired devices and systems. Production is already in place and the public can now order, making NeuraWave a significant step towards bringing cutting-edge computing technology into business.

The post Quantum Computing Inc. Unveils NeuraWave for Real-Time Edge AI Powered by Photonics appeared first on ITDigest.

“Creating a statewide quantum network in Florida will mark another major milestone in the deployment of IonQ’s global quantum platform,” said Niccolo de Masi, Chairman and CEO of IonQ. “IonQ’s quantum-secure communications and advanced networking capabilities strengthen innovation ecosystems, improve resiliency, and lay the foundation for future public and private sector applications.”

The Master Service Agreement (MSA), announced at the 2026 eMerge Americas Conference + Expo, represents one of the most advanced efforts in the United States to transition critical fiber infrastructure toward quantum-secure communications. It builds on a series of collaborations across public and private sectors, aimed at accelerating the state’s quantum infrastructure and investment ecosystem.

The intended first phase will establish a three-node corridor linking select area colleges over the existing Florida LambdaRail fiber network. The system will use IonQ’s quantum key distribution (QKD) technology, enabling detection of any interception attempt and significantly strengthening protection against future cyber threats.

Also Read: Zapata Quantum Completes Oversubscribed $15 Million Strategic Financing, Capping Successful Restructuring

Quantum computing is expected to challenge many of today’s widely used encryption standards. As a result, governments and institutions have begun preparing for scenarios in which encrypted data collected today could be decrypted in the future. Similar efforts, in Switzerland and Romania, to this Florida initiative, are addressing that risk by introducing quantum networking, which shifts part of the security model from mathematical complexity to physics-based protection.

“Florida LambdaRail’s collaboration with IonQ in this innovative quantum initiative will enable partner universities, researchers, and students to move quantum from the lab setting to real-world deployment,” said Jason Ball, chair of the Florida LambdaRail Board of Directors and associate provost and chief information officer at Florida Atlantic University. “We’re confident that this public and private project will be a catalyst to accelerate scalable quantum-secure connectivity across the state.”

Florida LambdaRail, a nonprofit network connecting universities, research institutions, and public sector entities across the state through dedicated fiber infrastructure, will serve as the backbone for the deployment. Its existing footprint enables the initiative to move directly into real-world implementation rather than remaining in a laboratory setting.

Matt Cimaglia, Managing Partner of Quantum Coast Capital and a founding member of Florida Quantum, which has been advancing initiatives across the state, said:

“This effort reflects a broader shift in how infrastructure is being designed. By aligning networks, institutions, and investment, Florida is laying the groundwork for a quantum ecosystem that has the potential to drive innovation, attract talent, and support new opportunities across the state.”

Following completion of the initial corridor, the initiative is expected to expand across the Florida LambdaRail network, connecting additional institutions statewide, subject to future funding and stakeholder participation.

Source: BusinessWire

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The Universal Quantum Switch is a solution to a major issue in quantum computing: interoperability. Current quantum systems use different encoding methods – superconducing qubits, trapped ions, photonic systems – that are generally incompatible with each other. Cisco’s switch features a patented conversion engine that is able to translate between different encoding and entanglement modalities and thus enable communication without destroying quantum information.

More importantly, the switch is a room temperature device and can be used with current fiber-optic networks, which means no special cooling systems or new networking frameworks are necessary. The technology has been tested in proof-of-concept and has shown that the quantum data could be preserved with only 4% degradation, indicating that the technology is ready for real world application.

Allowing quantum systems to interconnect, this breakthrough is the first step towards a quantum internet where quantum computers and sensors located at different places can be used to solve problems much more complex than classical systems.

Implications for the IT Industry

Cisco’s declaration marks a very significant change to the IT market evolving towards quantum-ready infrastructure and hybrid computing ecosystems. Although quantum computing has mostly been restricted to only a few research spheres, the Universal Quantum Switch and other similar technologies are bringing quantum computing much closer to everyday integration.

The thing is, for IT executives, this change will bring new focal points about quantum networking, interoperability, and infrastructure upgrading. In fact, it will be necessary for the organizations to gear up for situations where classical and quantum systems will be used side by side, which in turn will entail new architectures, protocols, and integration strategies.

On top of that, the feature allowing different types of quantum systems to be connected facilitates innovation that is not dependent on a particular vendor, which means that the business will be able to select the best products in the quantum technology market without being tied to one platform only. This is almost identical to how the cloud computing has evolved, where interoperability was the major factor determining the adoption.

Moreover, quantum networking brings brand new opportunities to the field of cybersecurity and data transmission. Quantum communication methods, for example, those based on entanglement, can offer encryption that allows detection of eavesdropping and significantly better protection of data, thereby establishing a new level of secure communication.

Also Read: NVIDIA Launches Ising Open AI Models to Accelerate the Path to Practical Quantum Computing 

Business Impact and Strategic Value

Introducing quantum networking capabilities in business is a long term strategy for leveraging amazing computing power and gaining competitive advantage. Pharmaceutical financial logistics, and energy industries, for instance, are well positioned to reap benefits from quantum-based optimization, simulation, and analytics.

The visual allows one to view and connect several quantum systems that not only quickens the way toward distributed quantum computing, but also enables organizations to increase processing power by linking resources through networks. As a result, the time taken for tackling very difficult problems will drastically diminish, for example, in drug discovery and supply chain optimization.

Besides, Cisco’s strategy of using current telecommunications infrastructure not only decreases the cost of the first step to adoption but also makes it possible for companies to try out quantum technologies without huge initial investment.

Strategically speaking, being among the first to use quantum networking talents may help a business to stand at the leading edge in innovation and create an opening for new use cases and revenue streams as the technology is developed.

Building the Foundation for a Quantum Future

Cisco’s Universal Quantum Switch underscores a pivotal moment in the evolution of computing: the transition from isolated quantum experiments to connected, scalable quantum ecosystems. While widespread adoption may still be years away, the introduction of interoperable quantum networking infrastructure is a critical step toward making quantum computing practical and accessible.

For the IT industry and businesses alike, this development highlights the importance of preparing for a future where quantum and classical systems operate together. Organizations that begin investing in quantum-ready strategies today will be better positioned to harness the transformative potential of this emerging technology and lead in the next era of digital innovation.

The post Cisco Unveils Universal Quantum Switch to Accelerate the Future of Quantum Networking appeared first on ITDigest.

“We’ve completed our restructuring and emerged stronger than ever,” said Sumit Kapur, Chief Executive Officer of Zapata Quantum. “This financing is a strong vote of confidence from long-term, fundamentals-oriented investors and positions us to scale at a critical moment as quantum computing transitions from technical progress to transformational real-world value creation.”

“Zapata stands out for its commitment to technical rigor, deep portfolio of foundational IP, and proven experience helping enterprises advance in their quantum journey,” said Jeff Huber, General Partner of Triatomic Capital. “We’re proud to support Zapata’s growth as it continues to demonstrate leadership in translating quantum advantage into quantum utility.”

Leadership in Quantum Value Creation

Since emerging from Harvard’s Quantum Computing Lab in 2017, Zapata has led foundational work advancing real-world quantum applications across Fortune 500 enterprises and the public sector, spanning high-value domains including cryptography, pharmaceuticals, finance, materials discovery, and defense.

A recent example of Zapata’s work highlighting quantum-enabled drug discovery was selected as one of Nature Biotechnology’s top 10 scientific papers of 2025, and featured as the journal’s December 2025 cover. The study, co-authored with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, University of Toronto, and Insilico Medicine, focused on targeting the KRAS mutation in cancer therapy—serving as a proof point of Zapata’s capabilities and quantum computing’s massive potential to generate viable drug candidates in the biotech domain.

Also Read: NTT Research Launches Scale Academy and New Quantum-Safe Security Platform

Scaling at a Critical Moment for Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is entering a phase of increasing enterprise relevance, with rapid hardware progress fueling growing sophistication in algorithms and implementations. At the same time, a gap remains between technical advancement and the ability to develop validated, high-value applications for enterprise problems. Zapata is focused on closing this gap by providing enterprises with the intelligence and tooling required to move from experimentation to production-ready solutions.

The strategic investment by Triatomic and others underscores Zapata’s mission to solve the quantum application bottleneck and represents a key next step in the company’s progress in the public market.

Funding will be used to scale Zapata’s platform and team across science, engineering, product, and commercial functions. As an AI-native company, Zapata is structured to deploy this capital efficiently—leveraging AI-driven development and strategic partnerships, including its collaboration with the University of Maryland on formal validation of quantum algorithms, to extend capabilities, accelerate development, and maximize runway.

“We are already firing on all cylinders: scientifically, technically, and commercially,” said Kapur. “This capital is jet fuel. It allows us to scale across every dimension. I couldn’t be more grateful or excited for the journey ahead as we continue toward our true north as the foundational hardware-agnostic quantum software platform.”

Source: GlobeNewswire

The post Zapata Quantum Completes Oversubscribed $15 Million Strategic Financing, Capping Successful Restructuring appeared first on ITDigest.

Also Read: IBM and ETH Zurich Partner to Advance Algorithms for AI and Quantum Computing

Thus, the researches would be able to examine future generations of computers and promote swift innovations within various industries. This collaboration aims at utilizing the high level of technology possessed by IBM along with the research opportunities of the University of Illinois in order to ensure interdisciplinary cooperation within the creation of computational systems that can be implemented in practice.

Read More: IBM and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Expand Discovery Accelerator Institute to Advance AI and Quantum Computing

The post IBM and University of Illinois Expand Institute to Advance AI and Quantum Innovation appeared first on ITDigest.

The Ising model group concentrates on the two major issues in the quantum computing industry: the quantum processors calibration and the error correction. These steps are necessary for the quantum systems to be able to work accurately even at a large scale. According to NVIDIA, its AI-based models can perform 2.5 times faster and have three times more accurate error correction in quantum systems than the traditional methods.

The fact that Ising is open-source means that scientists and businesses can get trained models, data, and working steps for building and tailoring quantum solutions on their own while having total control over their hardware. These models can work with the larger NVIDIA environment, such as CUDA-Q and mixed quantum-classical computing systems, which is a great help to the integration of quantum processors (QPUs) and classical computing systems.

Leading research centers and corporations are already on the way to adopting, thereby showing the mounting industry enthusiasm for AI-driven quantum innovation. With the help of NVIDIA, the time of calibration, which is currently measured in days, may be shortened to hours, and system reliability may be further improved, thus facilitating the move of quantum systems from research-oriented setups to market-ready products.

Also Read: IonQ and University of Maryland Expand QLab Collaboration to Advance Quantum Networking 

Implications for the IT Industry

NVIDIA’s announcement marks a huge step in the IT domain geared towards a fusion of AI and quantum computing. Quantum computing being a far-off technology, the emergence of useful AI solutions like Ising is one factor that is making the deployment of quantum computing in the real world less distant.

IT decision makers will have to focus on hybrid computing environments, classical computer systems, GPUs, and quantum processors functioning in a complementary manner, as a result of this change. Controlling such mixed computing environments is going to be very challenging requiring new methods for orchestration, data handling, and ensuring different computing paradigms can work together.

The shift to open AI models for quantum computing further opens the door to highly advanced technologies. Developers and businesses will be able to try out quantum computing without having to invent major parts of the technology themselves which will lead to more innovation in the whole field.

On top of that, the use of AI in quantum processes signifies how infrastructure in general is becoming more intelligent with AI not only being the topmost layer of an application but actually being one of the main components of a system’s functioning and tuning.

Business Impact and Strategic Value

AI-powered quantum tools open up a whole new range of business solutions for enterprises that go beyond what classical computers can do. Pharmaceutical finance logistics, and energy industries, for example, could take great advantages from quantum-enabled optimization, simulation modeling, etc.

By enhancing the fidelity and capability of quantum devices, NVIDIA Ising facilitates the process of enterprises getting on board thereby unmasks the first quantum use cases. This not only provides companies with a running start on quantum developments but also places them ahead of the competition especially in drug discovering, risk analyzing, and supply chain optimizations fields.

Besides, the open-source nature helps lower the entry barriers for companies to try out quantum technologies even without making a substantial capital expenditure. Hence, enterprises might prefer to follow an incremental innovation path by gradually integrating quantum functionalities with their current IT setups.

On the other hand, this transformation brings new problems as well. Besides hiring skilled manpower, acquiring the right equipment, and setting the proper rules and procedures for quantum use, organizations should also be ready to face the increased system complexity which will necessitate professional experts as well as long-term planning.

Accelerating the Quantum Future

NVIDIA’s Ising models highlight a defining moment in the evolution of computing: the transition from theoretical quantum potential to practical, AI-enabled execution. By combining the strengths of AI and quantum computing, NVIDIA is helping to unlock a new generation of computational capabilities.

For the IT industry and businesses alike, this development represents a critical step toward a future where quantum computing becomes an integral part of enterprise technology. Organizations that begin exploring and investing in these capabilities today will be better positioned to harness their transformative potential in the years ahead.

The post NVIDIA Launches Ising Open AI Models to Accelerate the Path to Practical Quantum Computing appeared first on ITDigest.

NTT Research announced Scale Academy at Upgrade 2026, the company’s annual research and technology innovation summit taking place April 15-16 at the Signia by Hilton San Jose.

Scale Academy: From Academic Research to Market Reality

NTT Research was founded as a corporate subsidiary with a mandate to engage in basic scientific research. Now in its seventh year of operations, NTT Research has also formalized a duty that aligns with its corporate status, namely: to identify technologies with strong commercial potential and guide them through the early phases of business success.

Its newly established Scale Academy is executing that role with SaltGrain, a zero-trust data security suite that leverages ABE, a cryptographic scheme first proposed in a 2004 paper co-authored by Dr. Amit Sahai of UCLA and Dr. Brent Waters, who now serves as the director of NTT Research’s Cryptography & Information Security (CIS) Lab. The product name combines Salt – a term for enhanced hash security – with Grain, which alludes to ABE’s ability to provide access to data on a granular level.

Also Read: Bull and Equal1 Form Strategic Alliance to Accelerate Hybrid Quantum-HPC Integration in Europe

“As NTT Research enters its ‘2.0’ phase, we are launching Scale Academy to iterate and grow the most promising new NTT technologies into market success,” said NTT Research President and CEO Kazu Gomi. “As the first case out of Scale Academy, we will push SaltGrain, which we believe the market is ready for. SaltGrain is a data security suite that breaks the prevailing all-or-nothing file-access paradigm, closes cybersecurity gaps and enhances privacy protection, which is much needed in the environment where AI agents are everywhere and playing a wide variety of roles.”

Startup incubators, well-known to venture capital firms, large universities and R&D-focused corporations, provide new ventures with separate governance and explicit resource allocation, which business analysts from Geoffrey Moore to the McKinsey Group have long associated with startup success. The Scale Academy at NTT Research will support breakthrough products that originate in its own four labs and in others throughout NTT.

“Business start-ups have their own rhythms and incentives that quarterly metrics miss,” Indart said. “Scale Academy accommodates those realities, with SaltGrain providing a timely entrance amidst AI risk acceleration, gaps in network and identity controls and the growing need to protect data wherever it moves.”

Source: BusinessWire

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At a time when quantum computing is transitioning from promise to practical reality, Bull and Equal1 share a common objective to accelerate the adoption of quantum‑enhanced computing for industrial and scientific applications. By enabling seamless hybridization between classical HPC and quantum computing, the partnership aims to lower the barrier for industrial and scientific adoption of quantum-accelerated workloads.

The partnership brings together Bull’s world-class supercomputing infrastructure and quantum emulation expertise with Equal1’s breakthrough silicon-spin quantum computers. By interfacing Equal1’s hardware directly with Bull’s Qaptiva platform, the companies offer quantum computing capabilities in existing AI and HPC data centre environments, enabling users to develop, test and optimise quantum algorithms and use cases while mitigating the uncertainty and error rates of current‑generation quantum hardware.

Also Read: CESNET and Ribbon Achieve a Successful Proof of Concept in Quantum-Secure Optical Networks

The collaboration focuses on three core pillars:

• Technical Integration: Developing a seamless connector between Equal1’s rack-mounted quantum servers and Bull’s Qaptiva software stack to enable high-speed hybridisation between classical supercomputers and quantum processors.
• Joint R&D: Advancing research in silicon-spin qubit characterisation and physics to drive the development of scalable, energy-efficient quantum-on-chip technology.
• Sovereign European Projects: Collaborating on European Union-led quantum initiatives to strengthen the continent’s technological sovereignty in the global quantum race.

Bruno Lecointe, SVP, Global Head of HPC, AI and Quantum at Bull, said:

“The convergence of high-performance computing and quantum technologies is redefining how we address the world’s most complex challenges, Ten years after launching the first quantum emulator of the market, innovation has always been part of Bull’s DNA and we remain committed to designing hybrid architectures that help translate emerging technologies into operational capability By integrating Equal1’s silicon-spin quantum servers into our Qaptiva ecosystem, we are enabling a seamless bridge between HPC, quantum emulation and quantum execution. This alliance ensures our customers can leverage quantum-centric supercomputing to achieve real-world outcomes with unprecedented efficiency and performance.”

Jason Lynch, CEO of Equal1, commented:

“By building quantum processors on standard silicon, we are turning quantum from bespoke laboratory hardware into deployable infrastructure. This collaboration with Bull is a vital step in bridging the gap between breakthrough hardware innovation and industrial workloads. Together, we are positioning our joint solutions as the standard for high-performance computing, enabling seamless integration into existing data centres and driving a more sustainable digital future.”

Under the terms of the MoU, the parties will establish a framework for technical exchange and joint project evaluation, initially focused on advancing physics-based simulations and large-scale datacentre infrastructure.

Source: Bull

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