Belden – Belden partners with Chicago Quantum Exchange to drive innovation in quantum-safe networking solutions

September 9, 2025

Partnership positions company as industry leader in advancing critical infrastructure for the quantum era.

St. Louis, Missouri – September 9, 2025 – Belden Inc. (NYSE: BDC), a leading global provider of complete connection solutions, today announced its affiliation with the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE), a premier hub for quantum science and engineering. The partnership positions Belden to pioneer quantum-safe networking solutions that defend critical infrastructure from quantum-era threats, grounded in its 120-year legacy of reliability and connectivity leadership.

Quantum computing is approaching commercial reality. Industry experts predict that “Q-Day” – when quantum computers can break certain encryption modalities – could arrive as early as 2029. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finalized post-quantum cryptography standards in 2024 and recommends adoption by 2030. This creates an urgent need for quantum-ready networking infrastructure, and Belden is positioning itself to lead the industry’s transition to quantum-secure communications.

“Just as Belden has long focused on reliability in secure communications, we now have the opportunity to explore what that entails in the quantum era,” said Hiran Bhadra, Sr. Vice President, Strategy & Technology. “This partnership with CQE demonstrates our interest in emerging technologies, particularly the ones that have the potential to impact critical infrastructure, data and communications.”

The CQE affiliation connects Belden to cutting-edge quantum research, vibrant startup ecosystems, and collaboration opportunities with leading technology companies, national laboratories, and academic institutions. Through this collaboration, Belden is charting a path toward quantum-secure infrastructure—piloting next-generation security innovations, rethinking product resilience and leading the transition to quantum-resistant networking.

Belden’s connectivity technologies secure the backbone of modern life, protecting power grids, railways, healthcare facilities and broadband infrastructure. These sectors face significant vulnerabilities once quantum computers can break today’s encryption methods. Current cybersecurity threats will multiply exponentially in the quantum era, potentially exposing banking transactions, healthcare records and critical infrastructure communications.

“From a technology perspective, this partnership positions us perfectly at the intersection of quantum communications and industrial networking,” said Dr. Oliver Kleineberg, Vice President of Technology. “While post-quantum cryptography remains central, we are innovating at the intersection of quantum and classical networks to elevate our customers’ operations—enabling more secure, resilient and high-performance hybrid networking.”

The CQE is an intellectual hub in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana that advances the science and engineering of quantum information, prepares the quantum workforce, and drives the quantum economy in collaboration with leading universities, national labs, and industry partners. It is based at the University of Chicago and anchored by the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Northwestern University, and Purdue University, and includes more than 50 corporate, international, nonprofit, and regional partners.

“By collaborating with the CQE’s leading researchers, technologists and end users, Belden will have an opportunity to gain practical insights about quantum-secure communications — and our community will benefit from their networking expertise,” said David Awschalom, the University of Chicago’s Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering and Physics and the director of the CQE. “We welcome this opportunity to work together to advance networking security as quantum technologies move toward commercial utility.”

The partnership represents Belden’s latest evolution in its transformation from a connectivity product company to a comprehensive solutions provider. By integrating quantum readiness into its strategy, Belden ensures customers receive not just current connectivity solutions, but future-proof infrastructure prepared for the quantum age.

SourceBelden

EMR Analysis

More information on Belden: See the full profile on EMR Executive services

More information on Dr. Ashish Chand (President and Chief Executive Officer, Belden): See the full profile on EMR Executive services

More information on Hiran Bhadra (Senior Vice President, Strategy & Technology, Belden, Belden): See the full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Dr. Oliver Kleineberg (Chief Technology Officer, Industrial Automation and Vice President of Technology, Belden): See the full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE): https://chicagoquantum.org/ + The Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) is an intellectual hub in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana that advances the science and engineering of quantum information, prepares the quantum workforce, and drives the quantum economy in collaboration with leading universities, national labs, and industry partners. The recipient of millions of dollars in government and corporate investment and home to some of the world’s top experts in the field, the CQE community is a central driver of US leadership in quantum technologies.

The CQE is based at the University of Chicago and anchored by the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Northwestern University, and Purdue University. The community includes more than 50 corporate, international, nonprofit, and regional partners and is one of the largest collaborative teams working on quantum science in the world.

More information on Kate Waimey Timmerman (Chief Executive Officer, Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE)): https://chicagoquantum.org/about/leadership-and-administration + https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-waimey-timmerman-6a43a812/

More information on David Awschalom (Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering and Physics, University of Chicago + Director, Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE)): https://chicagoquantum.org/about/leadership-and-administration + https://pme.uchicago.edu/faculty/david-awschalom

More information on The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): https://www.nist.gov/ + The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was founded in 1901 and is now part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NIST is one of the nation’s oldest physical science laboratories. Congress established the agency to remove a major challenge to U.S. industrial competitiveness at the time — a second-rate measurement infrastructure that lagged behind the capabilities of the United Kingdom, Germany and other economic rivals.

From the smart electric power grid and electronic health records to atomic clocks, advanced nanomaterials and computer chips, innumerable products and services rely in some way on technology, measurement and standards provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Today, NIST measurements support the smallest of technologies to the largest and most complex of human-made creations — from nanoscale devices so tiny that tens of thousands can fit on the end of a single human hair up to earthquake-resistant skyscrapers and global communication networks.

More information on Craig Burkhardt (Office of the Director, The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)): https://www.nist.gov/director/leadership

EMR Additional Notes:

Quantum Computing:
- Quantum computing is an area of computing focused on developing computer technology based on the principles of quantum theory (which explains the behavior of energy and material on the atomic and subatomic levels).
- Computers used today can only encode information in bits that take the value of 1 or 0—restricting their ability.
- Quantum computing, on the other hand, uses quantum bits or qubits. It harnesses the unique ability of subatomic particles that allows them to exist in more than one state (i.e., a 1 and a 0 at the same time).
- Superposition and entanglement are two features of quantum physics on which these supercomputers are based. This empowers quantum computers to handle operations at speeds exponentially higher than conventional computers and at much lesser energy consumption.
- In practice, quantum computers are expected to be broadly useful for two types of tasks: modeling the behavior of physical systems and identifying patterns and structures in information.
- Quantum Computing expert explains it to kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWJCfOvochA&t=71s

Grid, Microgrids, DERs and DERM’s:
- Grid / Power Grid:
  - The power grid is a network for delivering electricity to consumers. The power grid includes generator stations, transmission lines and towers, and individual consumer distribution lines.
    - The grid constantly balances the supply and demand for the energy that powers everything from industry to household appliances.
    - Electric grids perform three major functions: power generation, transmission, and distribution.
- Microgrid:
  - Small-scale power grid that can operate independently or collaboratively with other small power grids. The practice of using microgrids is known as distributed, dispersed, decentralized, district or embedded energy production.
- Smart Grid:
  - Any electrical grid + IT at all levels.
- Micro Grid:
  - Group of interconnected loads and DERs (Distributed Energy Resources) within a clearly defined electrical and geographical boundaries witch acts as a single controllable entity with respect to the main grid.
- Distributed Energy Resources (DERs):
  - Small-scale electricity supply (typically in the range of 3 kW to 50 MW) or demand resources that are interconnected to the electric grid. They are power generation resources and are usually located close to load centers, and can be used individually or in aggregate to provide value to the grid.
    - Common examples of DERs include rooftop solar PV units, natural gas turbines, microturbines, wind turbines, biomass generators, fuel cells, tri-generation units, battery storage, electric vehicles (EV) and EV chargers, and demand response applications.
- Distributed Energy Resources Management Systems (DERMS):
  - Platforms which helps mostly distribution system operators (DSO) manage their grids that are mainly based on distributed energy resources (DER).
    - DERMS are used by utilities and other energy companies to aggregate a large energy load for participation in the demand response market. DERMS can be defined in many ways, depending on the use case and underlying energy asset.

Broadband Connectivity:
- Broadband refers to various high-capacity transmission technologies that transmit data, voice, and video across long distances and at high speeds.
- Broadband refers to telecommunications in which a wide band of frequencies is available to transmit information. Because a wide band of frequencies is available, information can be multiplexed and sent on many different frequencies or channels within the band concurrently. Multiplexing enables more information to be transmitted in a given time, much as more lanes on a highway support more cars.

Cybersecurity:
- Computer security, cybersecurity, or information technology security is the protection of computer systems and networks from information disclosure, theft of or damage to their hardware, software, or electronic data, as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.