The follow-on work aims to turn that foundation into a research platform that can tie together different kinds of quantum hardware outside a controlled lab setting. The $7.5 million Phase 2 award comes out of a $21.1 million program first announced in January 2025 rather than adding to it, IonQ said in a release on Tuesday.
Classical networks use routers and cables to move data between unlike machines; quantum networks need equivalents that preserve fragile entangled states while passing them between devices built on different physical principles. The new phase adds free-space optical links with automated pointing and tracking, two frequency converters for interoperability across hardware on standard telecom wavelengths, and control software for self-tests and monitoring, according to the release. Whether those pieces hold up on a live network is what the second phase is designed to test.
IonQ's relationship with the Rome lab in New York predates this project. Earlier this year the company said it had linked two independent trapped-ion computers through photons in work partly funded by AFRL, a milestone it described in April.
Defense agencies have been a steady source of business for IonQ as it tries to move quantum technology from demonstrations to deployments. The company sells computing access through major cloud providers, but government labs account for much of its contract flow, and that work is often staged, with later phases contingent on funding. IonQ reported revenue of $130.0 million for 2025, roughly triple the prior year. Networking, sensing and security products now sit alongside computing in the company's lineup, and the Rome network is one of the few places where several of those layers run together.