- For much of history of quantum computing,
the concepts were theoretical and documented
in complex mathematics.
Fortunately, since the late 1990s,
actual quantum computers have been built.
Since that time, major advances have been made.
Systems that support many qubits are now being used,
albeit in an advanced, experimental stage.
They're available for both enterprises
and individuals to use.
Much work remains and a high performance,
fault-tolerant solution does not yet exist.
Let's explore a few examples of actual
quantum computing implementations.
IBM is a major quantum computing player.
They have been researching and experimenting
in the space for many years.
Today, they have several physical
prototype machines and simulators.
Called the Q series,
these computers are in a few global locations.
They differ in their implementations,
including number of qubits supported,
which range from five to 32.
These systems are available to the public to use.
IBM does have experimental machines with higher qubit counts
but are not available for public use.
IBM also provides an open source
quantum software development kit called Qiskit
and a virtual interface for coding called IBM Q Experience.
Detailed information is provided
on IBM's quantum computing website,
regarding these implementations
and how to access and use them.
Microsoft has been working on both the hardware and software
for quantum computers for over a decade.
Their quantum-focused programing language is called Q#
and has integration with Visual Studio
and the Python language.
It enables development on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
Microsoft believes, as do many,
that classical and quantum computing will work together,
at least for the foreseeable future.
A classical computer would determine if a workload
would be best processed in a quantum computer.
If it is, the workload will be uploaded
to a quantum computing platform
and then results will be made available
through Microsoft's Azure service.
Google is now deep in the quantum computing research
and development business.
Their focus is on quantum powering artificial intelligence,
developed through both hardware and software.
Their current quantum processor called Bristlecone
supports 72 qubits.
They also offer two open source platforms,
Cirq, which is for experimenting with quantum algorithms,
and OpenFermion, which is for working on problems
associated with chemical and material sciences.
D-Wave was founded in 1999
and is often cited as the first commercial
quantum computing company.
It develops both hardware and software,
and has been granted over 160 US patents.
Their first commercial system, called D-Wave One,
and subsequent generations of the system have doubled
the number of qubits supported.
In 2017, they released D-Wave 2000Q
with support for 2000 qubits.
That sounds remarkably high relative to, say,
Google's groundbreaking 72 qubits.
However, D-Wave's quantum architecture differs
from traditional or pure quantum computing
in that it uses an approach called quantum annealing.
A deeper explanation of this is outside the scope
of this introductory course.
D-Wave systems have been used to develop
over 100 applications, including those in cyber-security,
optimization, financial analysis,
manufacturing processes, and more.
Amazon has indicated their intent to offer
cloud-based quantum processing
through their popular Amazon Web Services or AWS offerings.
China's Alibaba is pursuing a similar path.
Many other known technology vendors including Fujitsu,
HP, Hitachi, and Intel are committing dollars and resources
to quantum computing research and services.
There are many others.
It's worthy to note too that there's a healthy ecosystem
of startups emerging.
This uptick in investment and interest
supports an industry on the verge of significant expansion.
- I think it's a very powerful technology.
There are opportunities,
not only to solve these great problems, but you know,
there are opportunities in security space
where this comes into play
that a lot of people are looking at.
I'm hoping that the countries will come together
and try to work together on solving
some of these big programs like climate change
and like, food production.
I think healthcare is another area.
You know, however, we all know how nation states are and so,
in the back of my mind, I know that these nation states
are thinking about it as a very powerful
computing device as well.
- More marketplace participants will be necessary
to support all the needs that quantum computing
will require to succeed broadly.