[Qirg] Re: I-D adoption draft-lopez-qirg-qi-multiplane-arch

[amar oxmo <[e-mail]>]

Hi all,

Thank you for sharing this draft. I found it very relevant, easy to follow, and interesting to read. The effort to ground a Quantum Internet architecture in operational experience from QKD deployments and evolved SDN concepts is particularly valuable.

While reading Sections 4.1 and 4.2.1, I had a question regarding the intended scope of the Service Stratum (SS), especially given the parallel drawn with the QKD Service Overlay Plane (SOP). In the QKD framework (and this draft in 3.1), my understanding is that SOP primarily handles service units at the application level (identification, lifecycle management, and delivery of keys) while quantum operations and hop-by-hop forwarding remain in the Quantum Forwarding Plane. Later in 4.1, SOP is mapped to SS. However, in Section 4.2.1 the SS appears to directly access to quantum memories and include addresses of entangled pairs/links, with SS control plane elements triggering exchanges in the QFS.

This raises a few points that could be clarified:
- Is the SS expected to remain an abstract service layer for applications (as SOP does in QKD), or is it intentionally expanded to manage quantum resources such as memory slots and entanglement instances at intermediate forwarders?
- Given that entanglement routing functions are mapped to the QFS control plane, it is unclear how routing responsibility is divided between SS and QFS? I think it could help to distinguish end-nodes from intermediate nodes regarding this.

Intuitively, and as noted in the first parts of the draft, SS ideally remain a service abstraction layer, with entanglement routing and memory management residing in QFS. The current text seems to blur this boundary slightly, and a clearer distinction might strengthen architectural consistency.


I also had a small comment regarding the discussion of timing in the QNDT section. The draft notes that simulation time is generally shorter than simulated time and that results should be delayed accordingly to preserve realism. In practice, depending on the simulator and modeling level, this assumption does not always hold. For example, detailed discrete-event simulators that model every single-photon attempt (such as SeQUeNCe) or models that track density matrices can easily require minutes or hours of computation to simulate a few seconds of network operation when scaling to many qubits and nodes. Unless the simulation intended for QNDT only performs single-link/single-attempt generation and returns result to the emulated nodes.

As a related point, scalable QNDTs will likely require abstraction mechanisms that avoid microscopic single-photon simulation. For instance, in our MQNS simulator we replace per-attempt photon modeling with stochastic models of entanglement success time and EPR-pair age at heralding, which enables faster simulation time. Approaches along these lines may be helpful for practical QNDT implementations.


Best regards,
Amar


> On Jan 13, 2026, at 1:30 AM, Diego R. Lopez <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Thanks Wojtek, we will proceed to prepare a new version, with the “adopted id” (as draft-irtf-qirg-qi-multiplane-arch) and will start working in incorporating all discussed updates (and more to come) on this document.
> 
> Be goode,
> 
> --
> “Esta vez no fallaremos, Doctor Infierno”
>  
> Dr Diego R. Lopez
> Telefonica
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr2lopez/
>  
> e-mail: [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>
> Mobile: [phone]
> ---------------------------------
> On 12/1/26, 14:43, <wojciech.kozlowski=[e-mail] <mailto:wojciech.kozlowski=[e-mail]>> wrote:
> 
> AVISO/WARNING: Este correo electrónico se originó desde fuera de la organización. No haga clic en enlaces ni abra archivos adjuntos a menos que reconozca al remitente y sepa que el contenido es seguro / This email has been originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
> 
> Dear QIRG,
>  
> As no objections have been raised, the draft-lopez-qirg-qi-multiplane-arch will be adopted by the QIRG. Diego et al. please keep this in mind when resubmitting and let us know how else we can help you with the document!
>  
> Many thanks,
> Wojtek
>  
> From: Wojciech Kozlowski <wojciech.kozlowski=[e-mail]>
> Sent: Tuesday, 9 December 2025 09:32
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: [Qirg] I-D adoption draft-lopez-qirg-qi-multiplane-arch
>  
> Dear QIRG,
>  
> For the last several QIRG meetings, Diego has been presenting work done by him and his colleagues on the draft https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-lopez-qirg-qi-multiplane-arch/.
>  
> The draft has evolved and while the expectation is that there is still more work to be done, it is evident that the authors are actively working on it. Therefore, as co-chairs we would like to ask the QIRG if there are any objections to RG adoption of "draft-lopez-qirg-qi-multiplane-arch". The goal of adopting would be to encourage everyone to participate in the discussion of the draft and help it on its way to publication.
>  
> If you have any objections, please share them on the mailing list no later than 9 January.
>  
> In the absence of objections, we will proceed with adoption.
>  
> Many thanks,
> Wojtek
>  
> 
> 
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