IBM unleashes the quantum computing experience

USA: IBM today is making quantum computing available to the public via the IBM Cloud onto any desktop or mobile device.

The IBM Quantum Experience will allow users to run algorithms and experiments on IBM’s quantum processor. Built by IBM scientists, the quantum processor is composed of five superconducting qubits and is housed at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in New York.

“By giving hands-on access to IBM’s experimental quantum systems, the IBM Quantum Experience will make it easier for researchers and the scientific community to accelerate innovations in the quantum field, and help discover new applications for this technology,” said Arvind Krishna, senior vice president and director, IBM Research.

Quantum computing – a different way of thinking

There has been tremendous progress and interest in the field of quantum of computing in recent years. IBM, Google, Microsoft, and many academic groups are all trying to develop quantum computers, to solve certain problems that are impossible to solve on today’s supercomputers.

In 1981, Richard Feynman first proposed to build computers based on the laws of quantum mechanics.

Quantum computing works fundamentally differently from today’s computers. A classical computer makes use of bits to process information, where each bit represents either a one or a zero.

In contrast, a qubit can represent a one, a zero, or both at once, which is known as superposition. This property along with other quantum effects enable quantum computers to perform certain calculations vastly faster than is possible with classical computers.

A universal quantum computer does not exist today, but IBM envisions medium-sized quantum processors of 50-100 qubits to be possible in the next decade. With a quantum computer built of just 50 qubits, none of today’s top 500 supercomputers could successfully emulate it, reflecting the tremendous potential of this technology.

Most of today’s quantum computing research in academia and industry is focused on building a universal quantum computer. The major challenges include creating qubits of high quality and packaging them together in a scalable way, so they can perform complex calculations in a controllable way.

IBM’s quantum computing platform is a core initiative at IBM Research Frontiers Institute. It is a consortium that develops and shares computing technologies to spur world-changing innovations. Founding members include Samsung, JSR, and Honda.

Companies from diverse industries can leverage IBM’s research talent and cutting-edge infrastructure to explore what the future of quantum computing may mean for their organization and business.