Insider Brief
- The Quantum Datacenter Alliance will hold its second international forum on Oct. 1, 2026, in London, focusing on the infrastructure needed to scale distributed quantum computing.
- The event will bring together leaders from quantum computing, networking and data center industries to discuss system architecture, interconnects, error correction, interoperability and power consumption.
- The QDA was established in 2025 by Nu Quantum, Cisco, NTT Data, OQC, QphoX, Quantinuum and QuEra to address data center integration challenges for quantum computing.
Press release – The second international Quantum Datacenter Alliance (QDA) Forum will be held on October 1, 2026, at Battersea Power Station in London. This exclusive-access event brings together technical and business leaders from across the quantum and classical networking industries with a shared mission: accelerating the timelines to reach utility-scale distributed quantum computing.
Nu Quantum, Cisco, NTT Data, OQC (Oxford Quantum Circuits), QphoX, Quantinuum and QuEra established the QDA in 2025 with the mission of bringing together leading voices from the quantum computing and data center communities to address one of the field’s most pressing bottlenecks: how to integrate emerging quantum hardware into existing and future data center infrastructure. As quantum systems move from lab-scale demonstrations toward commercial deployment, questions about system-level architecture, control, error correction, interoperability and power consumption have become as critical as the qubits themselves.
“Cross-industry collaboration is essential to delivering utility-scale quantum computers,” said Carmen Palacios-Berraquero, CEO of Nu Quantum. “The QDA provides a vital space for the leading companies in our ecosystem to exchange ideas and accelerate the progress needed to make this technology a reality.”
The one-day event will focus on a single question: how to build datacenter-scale quantum computers and accelerate the timeline to fault-tolerance. Sessions will cover the full computing stack (quantum processors, interconnects, entanglement networks, middleware, system integration, software, algorithms, and applications), reflecting the QDA’s premise that no single organization can solve this alone. The day’s speakers include:
- Dame Wendy Hall, Regius Professor at the University of Southampton and the inventor of Microcosm, the precursor to the World Wide Web
- Dr. Ben Bloom, CEO of Atom Computing
- Dr. Alexei Bylinskii, VP of Quantum Computing Services, QuEra Computing
- Dr. Anna Tatarczak, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Coherent Inc., specializing in next-generation data center interconnects
- Andy Grant, EMEA Director, Supercomputing, Higher Education, and AI at NVIDIA
- Jim Sexton, Fellow at IBM
- Michael Hush, Chief Scientist at Q-CTRL
- Dr. Carmen Palacios-Berraquero, CEO of Nu Quantum
- Dr. Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, journalist covering physics, materials science and quantum technology at New Scientist
- Seyon Sivarajah, Chief Architect for Developer Tools at Quantinuum
Registration for the Forum is open, but capacity at the venue is limited. The QDA is curating the attendee list to facilitate the kind of close, cross-disciplinary exchange that a smaller room makes possible: prioritizing depth of expertise and diversity of perspective across the quantum networking stack.
Robert Stockill, CTO at QphoX, said: “With so many pioneers in quantum data center design and implementation gathered at the QDA Forum, we have a unique chance to understand the very edge of technological advancement in scalable quantum computing, and stimulate the next round of innovation in these powerful and rapidly evolving systems.”
“Realizing the full potential of quantum technology and its role in the future of compute involves deploying it directly into AI data centers to operate in hybrid capacities alongside classical HPC environments,” said Dr. Jennifer Strabley, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Compute Platform Group at Quantinuum. “This global alliance provides the collaborative foundation necessary to address the system-level challenges required to accelerate scalable interoperability in alignment with the public and private sector leaders across the ecosystem.”
To register your interest, explore membership opportunities or stay up to date with the QDA’s latest activities, visit qda.global.
Facts Only
* The Quantum Datacenter Alliance (QDA) will hold its second international forum on October 1, 2026, in London.
* The forum focuses on the infrastructure needed to scale distributed quantum computing.
* The event will bring together leaders from quantum computing, networking, and data center industries.
* The QDA was established in 2025 by Nu Quantum, Cisco, NTT Data, OQC, QphoX, Quantinuum, and QuEra.
* The discussions will cover system architecture, interconnects, error correction, interoperability, and power consumption.
* The forum will focus on how to build datacenter-scale quantum computers and accelerate the timeline to fault-tolerance.
* Speakers include Dame Wendy Hall, Dr. Ben Bloom, Dr. Alexei Bylinskii, Dr. Anna Tatarczak, Andy Grant, Jim Sexton, Michael Hush, Dr. Carmen Palacios-Berraquero, Dr. Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, and Seyon Sivarajah.
* Robert Stockill, CTO at QphoX, stated the gathering offers a chance to understand technological advancement in scalable quantum computing.
Executive Summary
The Quantum Datacenter Alliance (QDA) is organizing its second international forum on October 1, 2026, in London, focusing on the infrastructure required to scale distributed quantum computing. The event will convene leaders from the quantum computing, networking, and data center industries to discuss system architecture, interconnects, error correction, interoperability, and power consumption. The QDA was established in 2025 by Nu Quantum, Cisco, NTT Data, OQC, QphoX, Quantinuum, and QuEra to address integration challenges for quantum computing in data centers.
The forum aims to explore how to build datacenter-scale quantum computers and accelerate the timeline toward fault-tolerance by examining the entire computing stack, including processors, interconnects, entanglement networks, and system integration. Key speakers include experts from institutions like the University of Southampton, IBM, and various technology leaders, emphasizing that cross-industry collaboration is necessary for realizing utility-scale quantum systems. The event emphasizes that achieving this requires addressing fundamental system-level challenges across the entire technology stack rather than focusing on a single component.
Full Take
The narrative positions the integration of quantum systems into existing data center infrastructure as a critical bottleneck demanding cross-industry consensus. The structure highlights the systemic nature of the challenge: no single entity can solve system-level issues like interconnects and power consumption; this necessitates an alliance. The inclusion of high-level figures alongside deep technical specialists suggests an effort to bridge abstract theoretical progress with concrete, implementable engineering realities for commercial deployment.
The pattern observed is one of necessary aggregation—the recognition that complex technological scaling requires a unified governance structure rather than siloed advancement. This structure, the QDA, functions as a mechanism to force convergence among disparate industry leaders toward shared goals regarding system architecture and fault-tolerance. The focus on the full computing stack implies an understanding that the physical qubit is insufficient; the challenge lies in the surrounding classical and control environment.
The implication for agency is whether this collaborative model translates into actual, equally weighted resource allocation and architectural decisions, or if it remains an abstract forum. The inherent tension lies between the stated goal of accelerating progress through collaboration and the practical reality of coordinating deeply specialized engineering disciplines under a single timeline. What are the unspoken assumptions about the relative power dynamics among these participating entities when attempting to define the "system architecture"?
Sentinel — Human
The text reads as a professionally drafted press release or internal brief; while highly structured, it exhibits the organic flow and specific focus typical of human communication rather than pure algorithmic generation.