Many people do not realize that the Internet that we know today is only possible because of technological developments that occurred in optical communication systems at the turn of the century. Today the Internet is an optical network of massive scale extending worldwide from individual homes to individual servers in mega-data centers. In fact, it has grown to the point that our ability to continue to scale these technologies following historical trends is reaching hard physical limitations. New technologies and innovative solutions are required to continue network scaling, creating a situation that is ripe with interesting research problems. Daniel Kilper’s research examines this intersection between new device and system technologies and network functionality. He is currently Director of the CONNECT Centre at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, where he is Professor and Chair of Future Communication Networks. He works closely with the Center for Quantum Networks at Arizona on creating the foundations for a future Quantum Internet.