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Reza Nejabati, Head of Quantum Research at Cisco, joins Eva Galant on Blond & Quantum to pull back the curtain on the part of quantum most people never hear about — not the race to build a quantum computer, but the network that has to connect them before any of it becomes useful.

Cisco built the pipes that made the internet possible. Now Reza — a former Bristol chair professor on his second leap from academia to industry — is trying to repeat that success for the quantum era. The twist: Cisco deliberately won't chase QPUs. Instead, it's going full-stack on quantum networking, building hardware, protocols, and applications because, as Reza puts it, almost nobody else is.

In this episode: 
📍 Why "building the pipes" is the smartest seat at the quantum table — and why Cisco stays modality-agnostic 
📍 The 2-million-entangled-photons-per-second chip, and why that rate is the key to beating quantum fragility 
📍 The Quantum Switch, Quantum Alert, Quantum Sync and Compiler — what they do, and why the Switch matters most 
📍 The Cisco–IBM partnership: who brings what, the hardest technical hurdle, and that early-2030s target 
📍 Straight talk on the hype, post-quantum cryptography, and which industries actually move first 
📍 The human payoff Reza is chasing: a personalized drug, simulated in weeks, delivered affordably

A grounded, jargon-free conversation on what's real, what's overhyped, and what arrives by 2030.

🎙️ Guest: Professor Reza Nejabati | Head of Quantum Research at Cisco
🎧 Host: Eva Galant | Blond & Quantum

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Most quantum podcasts talk about physics. This one talks about money.

Pouya Dianat, Chief Revenue Officer of Quantum Computing Inc., joins Eva Galant on Blond & Quantum to pull back the curtain on the business side of quantum — the part most people never hear about.

Listen to find out:
 📍 Why cryogenics makes enterprise buyers think twice
 📍 The 1.5B in cash
 📍 How QCI is de-risking quantum (beyond just computing)
 📍 What happens if quantum doesn't deliver by 2030
 📍 Photonics explained for a curious 12-year-old

No PhD required. Just honest talk about building a quantum business.

🎙️ Guest: Pouya Dianat | CRO, Quantum Computing Inc.
 🎧 Host: Eva | Blond & Quantum

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share — more conversations with global quantum leaders are coming soon.

 #quantumcomputing #QCI #photonics #quantumbusiness #deeptech #blondandquantum #crypto #quantumrevenue #TFLN #publiccompany

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Dr. Bert de Jong, Director of the Quantum Systems Accelerator at Berkeley National Lab, joins Eva Galant on Blond & Quantum to pull back the curtain on the part of quantum most people never hear about — the national labs quietly driving the science before any startup ever touches it.

We treat quantum like it's coming. Dr. Bert de Jong says it's been here the whole time  every chip in your phone already runs on quantum mechanics. What's changed is that we can finally use it in new ways.

As Director of the Quantum Systems Accelerator at Berkeley National Lab, Bert leads one of the country's largest quantum efforts from inside a $1.5B, 4,200-person institution that lives somewhere between a university and a startup. In this conversation with Eva, he breaks down what that actually means — and where quantum is genuinely heading.

In this episode:
📍 What a US National Lab really is, and how Berkeley's 16+ Nobel legacy still shapes the science
📍 Why the lab deliberately backs neutral atoms, trapped ions, and superconducting qubits — and which Bert expects to arrive first 
📍 The near-term reality: industry-relevant simulations in 3–5 years, starting with chemistry, materials, and optimization 
📍 Why the story is bigger than computing — quantum sensing for GPS-free navigation, secure networking, and the race to stay quantum-safe 
📍 How Berkeley's incubator turns researchers into founders, and the moonshot keeping Bert up at night: zero-energy fresh water from the sea

A grounded, jargon-free look at what's real, what's hype, and what's three years away.

🎙️ Guest: Dr. Bert de Jong | Director, Quantum Systems Accelerator, Berkeley National Lab 🎧 Host: Eva | Blond & Quantum

Enjoying Blond & Quantum? Follow the show and share this episode — more conversations with global quantum leaders are on the way.

#quantumcomputing #berkeleylab #quantumsystemsaccelerator #neutralatoms #quantumsensing #deeptech #nationallab #quantumchemistry #blondandquantum #scientificdiscovery

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Quantum hardware exists. But making it work? That's an AI problem.

Isaiah Hull, co-founder and CTO of FirstQFM, joins Eva Galant on Blond & Quantum to talk about the missing layer in the quantum stack — foundation models built specifically to improve quantum hardware performance.

Listen to find out:
📍 Why we've been working on this since before ChatGPT
📍 The commercial quantum application coming June 2025
📍 Which modality is quietly winning (neutral atoms)
📍 What investors get wrong about quantum startups
📍 Why being "quantum proof" matters

No PhD required. Just the future of computing.

🎙️ Guest: Isaiah Hull | Co-founder & CTO, FirstQFM
 🎧 Host: Eva | Blond & Quantum

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share — more conversations with global quantum leaders are coming soon.

#firstqfm #quantumai #foundationmodels #quantumcomputing #deeptech #blondandquantum #machinelearning #quantumhardware #neutralatoms #quantumsoftware

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Q-Day might have already happened. In the 1990s.

Joe Spencer, UK Director at Global Quantum Intelligence Platform, joins Eva Galant on Blond & Quantum to talk about the real-world defense applications of quantum — beyond the hype and headlines.

Listen to find out:
 📍 Why the UK is betting billions on quantum defense
 📍 The quantum technology that already matters (clocks)
 📍 Which country is quietly outperforming everyone else
 📍 What "see first, shoot first" means in the quantum era
 📍 Why Q-Day isn't a single day — and why that matters

No PhD required. Just honest intelligence.

🎙️ Guest: Joe Spencer | UK Director, GQI
 🎧 Host: Eva | Blond & Quantum

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"Harvest now, decrypt later" isn't a theory. It's happening right now.
Marc Kaplan, CEO of VeriQloud, joins Eva Galant on Blond & Quantum to talk about the quiet cybersecurity threat hiding in plain sight — and why waiting is the riskiest move you can make.

Listen to find out:
📍 Why your encrypted data might already be at risk today
📍 What "harvest now, decrypt later" actually means (and who's doing it)
📍 The hardware that protects quantum cloud computations (QEnclave)
📍 Why trusting the cloud provider isn't enough
📍 What every executive should do in the next 12 months
No PhD required. Just a wake-up call.

🎙️ Guest: Marc Kaplan | CEO, VeriQloud
 🎧 Host: Eva | Blond & Quantum

If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share — more episodes with global leaders in quantum are coming soon.

#quantumsecurity #veriqloud #cybersecurity #qenclave #quantumcomputing #blondandquantum #harvestnowdecryptlater #deeptech #quantumsafe #encryption

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The top hedge funds just dropped billions on AI compute. The other 95%? They're still using 10-year-old models.

Yianni Gamvros, CEO and founder of Quantum Signal, joins Eva Galant on Blond & Quantum to talk about the quiet revolution in intraday trading — and why most firms are already losing.

Listen to find out:
📍 Why Jane Street spent $6B on compute (and what it means for everyone else)
📍 The 7.5% edge our signals delivered in Q1
📍 Why we built a classical solution first (quantum comes later)
📍 When AI agents will start trading against each other
📍 The "picks and shovels" strategy for the AI gold rush

No PhD required. Just real talk about money, markets, and machine learning.

🎙️ Guest: Yianni Gamvros | CEO & Founder, Quantum Signal
 🎧 Host: Eva | Blond & Quantum

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share — more conversations with global quantum leaders are coming soon.

 #quantumsignal #aitrading #fintech #quantfunds #generativeai #intradaytrading #blondandquantum #hedgefunds #algorithmictrading #machinelearning

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Think quantum is still stuck in the lab? Think again.

Thien-An Nguyen, CTO of Orca Computing, joins Eva Galant on Blond & Quantum to talk about what happens when you stop hyping the future and start shipping hardware today.

Listen to find out:
📍 Why "how many qubits?" is the least relevant question you can ask
📍 How room-temperature photonic systems fit into existing data centers
📍 The truth about hybrid quantum-AI (it's already running)
📍 Why Orca prices its systems an order of magnitude lower than competitors
📍 The moment quantum becomes truly useful — when it's boring

No PhD required. Just real talk from a CTO building the future of information processing.

🎙️ Guest: Thien-An Nguyen | CTO, Orca Computing
 🎧 Host: Eva | Blond & Quantum

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share more conversations with global quantum leaders are coming soon.

#quantumcomputing #orcacomputing #deeptech #photonics #quantumAI #blondandquantum #quantumhardware #innovation #datacenter #quantumtechnology

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In this episode of Blond & Quantum, host Eva Galant sits down with Jerome Paye, Co-Founder and CEO of TAU Systems a Texas-based deep-tech startup building compact particle accelerators and soft X-ray lasers ⚡🔬. 

TAU's technology miniaturizes what normally requires kilometer-long government facilities with applications ranging from space radiation testing ☢️ to next-generation semiconductor lithography 💡🔩

Topics discussed:
📍What TAU Systems actually builds (explained without a physics degree)
📍Why Moore's Law needs new light sources to continue
📍How space radiation testing works — and why demand is exploding
📍The difference between conventional accelerators and laser-plasma acceleration
📍TAU's business model: service first, then sell the machines
📍The long-term vision: affordable particle accelerators for universities and 📍discovery

Expect honesty, insight, and a touch of humor (and maybe a brief cameo from Eva’s very real, very curious Schrödinger’s cat 🐈‍⬛).

🎧Guest: Jerome Paye | Co-Founder & CEO, TAU Systems
🎙️Host: Eva | Blond & Quantum

#Blond&Quantum #deeptech  #spacetechnology #semiconductor  #particleaccelerator 

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Bill Vass, CTO of Booz Allen Hamilton, joins Eva on Blond & Quantum to separate signal from noise in quantum.

Bill built Amazon Braket. He runs thousands of engineers working on quantum, AI, and national security. And he has some surprising takes on what's real — and what's not.

Listen to find out:
📍Why a motion sensor and a ceiling light once broke a quantum machine
📍One material science breakthrough that quantum could unlock
📍The football field-sized machines nobody is talking about
📍What every CEO should do in the next 12 months
📍The story behind the first entanglement of two quantum computers across 100km of fiber

No PhD required. Just honest conversation.

🎙️ Guest: Bill Vass | CTO, Booz Allen Hamilton
🎧 Host: Eva | Blond & Quantum
 
If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share — more episodes with global leaders in quantum are coming soon.
 
#quantumcomputing  #boozallen  #deeptech  #quantumsensing  #BlondAndQuantum #BillVass #innovation #quantumtechnology

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