IBM is making a bet on quantum computing:
IBM announced today an industry-first initiative to build commercially available universal quantum computing systems. "IBM Q" quantum systems and services will be delivered via the IBM Cloud platform. While technologies that currently run on classical computers, such as Watson, can help find patterns and insights buried in vast amounts of existing data, quantum computers will deliver solutions to important problems where patterns cannot be seen because the data doesn't exist and the possibilities that you need to explore to get to the answer are too enormous to ever be processed by classical computers.
IBM also announced today [...] The release of an upgraded simulator on the IBM Quantum Experience that can model circuits with up to 20 qubits. In the first half of 2017, IBM plans to release a full SDK (Software Development Kit) on the IBM Quantum Experience for users to build simple quantum applications and software programs.
[...] IBM intends to build IBM Q systems to expand the application domain of quantum computing. A key metric will be the power of a quantum computer expressed by the "Quantum Volume", which includes the number of qubits, quality of quantum operations, qubit connectivity and parallelism. As a first step to increase Quantum Volume, IBM aims at constructing commercial IBM Q systems with ~50 qubits in the next few years to demonstrate capabilities beyond today's classical systems, and plans to collaborate with key industry partners to develop applications that exploit the quantum speedup of the systems.
Also at BBC, USA Today, and Nature.
Related Stories
IBM Raises the Bar with a 50-Qubit Quantum Computer
IBM established a landmark in computing Friday, announcing a quantum computer that handles 50 quantum bits, or qubits. The company is also making a 20-qubit system available through its cloud computing platform.
IBM, Google, Intel, and a San Francisco startup called Rigetti are all currently racing to build useful quantum systems. These machines process information in a different way from traditional computers, using the counterintuitive nature of quantum physics.
The announcement does not mean quantum computing is ready for common use. The system IBM has developed is still extremely finicky and challenging to use, as are those being built by others. In both the 50- and the 20-qubit systems, the quantum state is preserved for 90 microseconds—a record for the industry, but still an extremely short period of time.
[...] IBM is also announcing an upgrade to its quantum cloud software system today. "We're at world record pace. But we've got to make sure non-physicists can use this," Gil says.
The announcement should perhaps be treated cautiously, though. Andrew Childs, a professor at the University of Maryland, points out that IBM has not published details of its system in a peer-reviewed journal. "IBM's team is fantastic and it's clear they're serious about this, but without looking at the details it's hard to comment," he says. Childs says the larger number of qubits does not necessarily translate to a leap in computational capability. "Those qubits might be noisy, and there could be issues with how well connected they are," he says.
Also at The Mercury News and SiliconANGLE.
Previously: IBM Promises Commercialization of 50 Qubit Quantum Computers
IBM and D-Wave Quantum Computing Announcements
Intel Ships 17-Qubit Quantum Chip to Researchers
Google's Quantum Computing Plans Threatened by IBM Curveball (doesn't this undermine IBM's quantum system as well?)
Related: Microsoft is Developing a Quantum Computing Programming Language
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Gaaark on Tuesday March 07 2017, @02:07AM (2 children)
USA! USA!
Built in.... India? China? Who else do they outsource to?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @02:25AM
International Business Machines Corporation
Really makes your neurons tingle
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @06:58AM
If this isn't subject to export control, what is even the point of export control?
Heck, it probably ought to be classified.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Tuesday March 07 2017, @03:10AM (2 children)
By "commercialize", I'm guessing they're hoping for renting rather than selling. They really miss the money they get from the mainframe crowd. They bend them over and commercialize then without lube.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @03:16AM (1 child)
Thug niggers.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 07 2017, @04:53AM
IBM is blue, though, isn't it?
Like in "Big Blue Bubba"
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Interesting) by TheRaven on Tuesday March 07 2017, @09:25AM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @11:05AM
Figure it out yourself. You get 20 qubits.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @11:56AM (1 child)
IBM announces that will not be offering a 50Qbit quantum computer.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Justin Case on Tuesday March 07 2017, @06:12PM
Yes, but that was in a parallel universe that forked off of ours when they powered up the Qbit computer while the LHC was running.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Tuesday March 07 2017, @01:44PM
By the time Knuth completes TAOCP's volume 4 he'll have a quantum computer aided AI doing spell-check.
Incidentally: https://www.webofstories.com/play/donald.knuth/1 [webofstories.com]
compiling...
(Score: 2, Touché) by AssCork on Tuesday March 07 2017, @02:10PM
Computers are like firearms; they can be used for good or evil, and you want to keep them out of the hands of stupid people.
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday March 07 2017, @06:17PM
quantum computers will deliver solutions to important problems where patterns cannot be seen because the data doesn't exist
That's taking journalistic licence a bit far, isn't it? I'm pretty sure quantum computers don't magic data out of nothing.
Anyway, what is this thing? Is it an actual quantum computer, or is it a simulation? Or is the 20 qubit simulator meant to be like a demo for the real thing?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk