Execs and experts discuss how classic computers will be eclipsed by this technology.

Insights: Quantum Computing

[MUSIC PLAYING] BOB SUTOR: My name is Bob Sutor. I work at IBM Research, and I'm the vice president for Quantum Computing Strategy and Ecosystem. That is, IBM Q. Quantum computing uses a radically new type of computing really from the ground up that we hope will be able solve some problems that will be completely intractable for classical computers like your laptop or your smartphone. We're sitting here today in IBM Research headquarters. We have more Quantum computers here than the entire rest of the world combined. We really run the gamut from worrying about the fundamental science and engineering of the chip to thinking about the best way these integrated systems will work with clients and the workflows they have today. The most essential part of the Quantum computer, the chip, is maybe 1,000th for 1/10,000th the size of everything else that you have to build. There's the enclosure. There's the refrigeration. There's the quality of the electronics. There's how you make it available on the internet. Quantum computers are extremely sensitive and are prone to interference of really any sort of type. If I were to raise the temperature too much, or even if I were just to shake it, it would affect the electronics feeding into the chip itself and cause a little bit of instability in how we program those devices. We don't just think about one Quantum computer in isolation. What would it look like to put a series of Quantum computers into what used to be called the data center, but I'll call it Quantum computation center? How do we make those Quantum computers work together with the systems they already have or maybe using on the cloud as well? So what we're announcing today is an integrated system that is state-of-the-art in every way regarding its infrastructure. In terms of the quality of the chip, it's a fourth generation 20-qubit chip. The quality of the electronics, the quality of the refrigeration, and the way it would possibly integrate into a future Quantum computation center. When you approach this quantum computer, first you see this very large, elegant, nine-foot-by-nine-foot glass. You see the actual quantum computer, the cryostat in the middle. Inside there, it gets extremely cold. And we bring it down close to absolute zero. When you put a quantum computer out on, let's say, the cloud, you want consistency. And consistency goes from the chip, but all the way up to the environment in which the quantum computer is held. So we have maximized all elements of the quantum computing system within that glass case. When we conceived the idea for this new integrated quantum computing system, we knew we had to go to industrial designers. We could handle the technology, but we wanted state-of-the-art design to complement the actual hardware that we had created. So one example is the glass system. We went to Goppion in Milan to design this. Goppion designed the cases that surround the Mona Lisa, as well as the Crown Jewels in London. This is half-inch borosilicate glass. It is built within a tolerance of one millimeter. When it closes, the entire air system, the temperature control system leads to a far more stable operating system. The outer frame is completely separate from the inner frame. Why do we do that? Reduce vibration. That glass reduces any sort of temperature changes if someone opens the door or there's any sort of radio frequency interference noise that's coming through the room as well. And so we have taken all the separate components, which we have individually optimized from a technological perspective and from a design perspective. Instead of taking days or weeks to bring a system down, bring it back up, we can now do it in hours. IBM has long been interested in design. In the late 1950s, we commissioned Eliot Noyes, who was a well-known designer, to really look around at the products that IBM was creating to make them beautiful, but make them highly functional. There was a belief that really good, really elegant design could build upon really excellent technology as well. If we look back to those early 1960s, we see beautiful shots. The systems, the design, the colors, the dimensions really led, I think, to the acceptance and the growth of IBM mainframes, IBM 360 computers at that time. And I think that's really a hallmark of what we're doing at IBM Q. The best technology that people will want to use, want to learn more about. Today, we are in the Quantum-ready phase. So I want to be very careful about saying this. There is nothing today you can do on a Quantum computer that you can't otherwise do on a classical computer. But because Quantum computing is very new and very different, we have to educate people. People have to get in there and learn about this entirely new programming model. Now we estimate in about three to five years, we will move to what we call Quantum advantage. And that's a time when we can say right here from this industry, Quantum computing can do significantly better than what we know how to do classically. I think this new system, this new integrated system is going to really be the blueprint for a lot of what we do in this next phase of being Quantum-ready and preparing to show real Quantum advantage. Every Quantum computing system that we build is better than the last. But this, we think, is going to be an architecture that carries us through the next few years. [MUSIC PLAYING]

Insights: IBM Unveils Groundbreaking Quantum Computing System

Uncategorized

The Q System One is built specifically for business use.

IBM Unveils Groundbreaking Quantum Computing System

The Q System One is the first quantum system to consolidate thousands of components into a glass-enclosed, air-tight environment built specifically for business use.

my name's Bob. I worked at IBM Research on vice president for quantum computing strategy and ecosystem that is IBM Cube. Quantum computing uses a radically new type of computing, really from the ground up that we hope will be able to solve some problems that will be completely intractable for classical computers like your laptop or your smartphone. We're sitting here today in IBM Research headquarters. We have Maur quantum computers here in the entire rest of the world combined. We really run the gamut from wearing about the fundamental science and engineering of the chip to thinking about the best way these integrated systems will work with clients and the work flows they have today. The most essential part of the quantum computer. That chip is maybe 1000 for 1 10/1000 the size of everything else that you have to build theirs. The enclosure There's refrigeration. There's the quality of the electronics. There's how you make it available on the Internet. Quantum computers are extremely sensitive and are prone to interference of really any sort of. If I were to raise the temperature too much or even if I were just to shake it, it would affect the electron ICS leading into the chip itself and cause a little bit of instability in how we program those devices way. Don't just think about one quantum computer in isolation. What would it look like to put a series of quantum computers into what used to be called the data center? But I'll call a quantum computation center. Hasn't we make those quantum computers work together with the systems they already have, or maybe using on the cloud as well? So what we're announcing today is an integrated system that is state of the art in every way regarding its infrastructure in terms of the quality of the chip. It's 1/4 generation 20 cubits chip, the quality of the electronics quality of the refrigeration and the way it would possibly integrate into a future quantum computation. When you approach this quantum computer first you see this very large, elegant nine foot by nine foot black. You see the actual quantum computer, the cryo stat in the middle inside there, it gets extremely cold, and we bring it down close to absolute zero. When you put a quantum computer out on, let's say the class, you want consistency consistency goes from the chip, but all the way up to the environment in which the quantum computers health. So we have maximized all elements of the quantum computing system Within that glass case, when we conceived the idea for this new integrated quantum computing system, we knew we had to go to industrial designers. We could handle that technology, but we wanted a state of the art designed to compliment the actual hardware that we're creating. So one example is the glass system we went to go pee on in Milan to design Go Pee on designing the cases that surrender Mona Lisa as well as the crown jewels in London. This is half inch borrowed silicate glass. It is built within tolerance of one millimeter. When it closes the entire air system. The temperature control system leads to a far more stable operating system. The outer frame is completely separate from the inner frame. Why do we do that? Produced vibrations that glass reduces any sort of temperature changes of someone opens the door, or there's any sort of radio frequency interference noise that's coming through the room as well. So we have taken all the separate components which we have individually optimized from a technological perspective stands from a design perspective. Instead of taking days or weeks to bring a system down, bring it back up, we can now do it in hours. IBM has long been interested in design. In the late 19 fifties, we commissioned Elliot Noise, who was a well known designer, to really look around at the products that IBM was creating to make them beautiful. That makes him highly functional. There was a belief that really good, really elegant design could build upon really excellent technology. If we look back to those early 19 sixties, we see beautiful shots. Systems design, the colors, the dimensions really led, I think, to the acceptance and the growth off IBM mainframes like 360 computers. And I think that's really a hallmark of what we're doing in I. Q. The best technology that people will want to use want to learn more about today. We are in the quantum ready, so I want to be very careful about saying this. There is nothing today. You could do a quantum computer that you can't otherwise doing a classical computer. But because quantum computing is very, very different, we have to educate people. People have to get in there and learn about this entirely. New programming. Now we estimate about 3 to 5 years we will move to what we call quantum advantage. And that's the time when we can say right here in this industry, quantum computing could do significantly better then what we know how to do. Classically, I think this new system integrated system is going to really be the blueprint for a lot of what we do in this next phase of being quantum ready and preparing to show really quantum event, every quantum computing system that we build better than the last. But this, we think, is going to be an architecture that carries us through next year.

 ROBERT HACKETT: I've got an iPhone. I can order pizza with it. I can binge watch Stranger Things. Why should I care about a quantum computer? KRYSTA SVORE: Well, it turns out there's some problems in this world that we can never hope to solve with the computers we have today. Even if you take all the supercomputing and all of your digital technologies and put them together, there still remain problems that take a lifetime of the universe timescales even using all of that compute to solve. And these problems are really important problems for our world, for our society, things like, how do we capture carbon from the atmosphere to help save our planet? How do we better handle clean energy also to help save our planet? And how do we do better food production around the world? Quantum computers can help with all of these types of problems, problems that really do take lifetime in the universe timescales to solve on digital technology and then just a matter of weeks or months on a quantum computer. ROBERT HACKETT: Which aspect is most exciting for you? You listed a few topics out there-- the climate crisis, tackling that challenge, drug discovery. What is most personally exciting for you? KRYSTA SVORE: Yeah, well, most recently, actually just today, we announced some work we've done with Case Western Reserve University. And this is in the space of medical diagnoses. You think about every one of us knows someone who has been diagnosed with a severe disease, whether it's cancer, or multiple sclerosis, or epilepsy. And in these technologies, we're working with Case Western Reserve University and Mark Griswold there to bring about revolutions in terms of MRI and magnetic resonance fingerprinting techniques. And with quantum-inspired algorithms, we can actually improve the speed of MRI. So the detection rates, you can actually have an MRI scan that is three times faster than it is today and 30% more accurate. And this allows you to then pick out different tissues much more accurately, identify disease early, see if chemotherapy's working. And all of this is using quantum techniques to speed this up. ROBERT HACKETT: You used a phrase in there, "quantum inspired," which is interesting, because we don't have the hardware really itself, at least to a point where it's going to outperform what we have already. So what makes something quantum inspired? How can we call it quantum if we're still running this stuff on classical machines? KRYSTA SVORE: Well, it turns out that we can actually look to quantum computing. And we can learn a lot from those-- how those computers and those algorithms behave and how quantum mechanics behaves. And we can take ideas from quantum mechanics and physics. And we can simulate them on our classical machines. And by simulating what these quantum mechanical behaviors are within, say, a classical algorithm, we can achieve speedups. And what's even better is once we have the full-scale quantum computer, we can take these same algorithms and speed them up even further using the full-scale quantum computer. So these are methods inspired by the full quantum algorithm but that we can use today on classical machines. 

Insights: The Vast Potential of Quantum Computing 

Microsoft's principal quantum research manager explains.

The Vast Potential of Quantum Computing 

Microsoft's principal quantum research manager, Krysta Svore, explains.

I've got an iPhone. I can order pizza with it. I can binge watch strangers thing. Why should I care about a quantum computer? Well, it turns out there's some problems in this world that we can never hope to solve with the computers we have today, right? Even if you take all the supercomputing and all of your digital technologies and put them together, they're still remained problems that take a lifetime of the universe. Timescales, even using all of that compute solved. And the problem is, they're really important problems for our world, for our society, right? Things like, how do we capture carbon from the atmosphere to help lever save our planet, Right. How do we better handle clean energy, right? Also to help save our planet. And how do we do better food production around the world? Quantum computers can help with all of these types. Problems promise. That really do take a lifetime in the universe. Time scales to solve on digital technology. And then, just a matter of weeks or months on a quantum computer, which aspect is most exciting for you? You listed a few topics out there. The climate crisis, you know, tackling that challenge. Drug discovery. What is most personally exciting for you? Yeah, well, most recently, actually. Just today we announced, uh, some work we've done with case Western Reserve University. And this is in the space of medical diagnoses, right? You think about, you know, every one of us knows someone who has been diagnosed with a severe disease, whether it's cancer or multiple sclerosis or epilepsy on in these technologies were working with Case Western Reserve University and Mark Griswold there to bring about revolutions in terms of M. R. I and a magnetic president fingerprinting technique. And with quantum inspired algorithms, we can actually improve the speed of them are I write the detection rate. You can actually have a memory scan that is three times faster than it is today and 30% more accurate. And this allows you to then pick out different tissues much more accurately identified disease early, see if chemotherapy is working. And all of this is using quantum technique. To speed this up, you used a freezing their quantum and spired, which is kind of interesting because we don't have the hardware really itself, at least to a point where it's gonna perform outperforming we have already. So what makes something quantum inspired? How can we call it quantum if we're still running the stuff on classical machines? Well, it turns out, but, you know, we can actually look to quantum computing, and we can learn a lot from the how those computers and the algorithms behaved and how quantum mechanics behaved right. We could take ideas from quantum mechanics and physics, and we can simulate them on our classical machines. And by simulating what these quantum mechanical behaviors are within a classical algorithm, we can achieve speed up. And what's what's even better is, once we have the full scale quantum computer, we can take these same algorithms and speed up, speed them up even further, using the full scale quantum computer. So these air methods, inspired by the full quantum algorithm but that we can use today on classical machines

[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC] KRYSTA SVORE: When we think about quantum computers, we're really harnessing the power of quantum mechanics and these amazing physical properties to bring together and then design an algorithm using these properties and really outpace, out-speed our digital technologies by incredible numbers, billions of years. And when you think about your digital technology, at the core, you have a transistor. It's a switch, right? It's like a light switch. It's on or off. Everything in your digital-- whether it's your phone or your laptop or your car, for that matter-- it's working on bits. And in the quantum computer, we work on something called a qubit, a quantum bit, which now instead of just being like a transistor that's on or off, we can design a more exotic transistor that now can take on simultaneously both of those states, 0 and 1 simultaneously. And when you harness that plus these other amazing properties-- that perhaps people have heard about spooky action at a distance that Einstein often talked about, or Schrodinger's cat, where there's a cat in a box and it's dead and alive at the same time. All these properties we bring together, plus interference, to design quantum algorithms that bring, for some problems, billions of years of compute time down to just a matter of seconds, minutes, hours, days. [INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC] 

Insights: Microsoft's Quantum Computing Lead Explains How It Works

It allows years' worth of computations in less time. 

Microsoft's Quantum Computing Lead Explains How It Works

This technology will allow us to perform years' worth of computations in a fraction of the time. 

way. Think about quantum computers. We're really we're really harnessing the power of quantum mechanics and amazing physical properties to bring together and then design an algorithm using these properties and, really, you know, outpace out speed our digital technologies by incredible numbers, right? Billions of years. Ah, and when you think about your digital technology at the core, you have a transistor. It's a switch, right? It's like a light switch. It's on or off every everything in your digital, whether it's your phone or your laptop or your car. For that matter, right, it's working on a bit. And in the quantum computer, we worked on something called a cubit, a quantum bit, which now, instead of just being like a transistor that's on or off, we can design a more exotic transistor right that now can take on simultaneously. Both of those states, zero and one simultaneously. And when you harness that, plus these other amazing properties, perhaps people have heard about spooky action at a distance that Einstein awfully, you know, often talked about, or Schrodinger's cat right where there's a cat in a box and it doesn't live at the same time. All of these properties we bring together plus interference design quantum algorithms but that bring, you know, for some problems, you know, billions of of years of compute time down to just a matter of, you know, seconds, minutes, hours, days.

[MUSIC PLAYING] KRYSTA SVORE: Both of us are working in our communities and the broader community to help educate people around what are the skills needed to enter this workforce. You know, after all, this is going to open up what we think of as an entirely new economy, right? A quantum economy is coming. And we need to prepare for that. We need to prepare for that by training our workforce. And that's part of the reason for open sourcing the QDK and for encouraging the use of Q#. We also have a series of exercises to make it easy to learn Q# called the Quantum Katas. And with all of these initiatives and these efforts, we're hoping that more people can engage around quantum computing. And you know, with that we can train a workforce that will be ready, right? Quantum software engineers, quantum developers. We also need cryogenic engineers, material scientists, right? We need people that can enter the field at all layers of this quantum computing stack. And right now, we are not in the position to have all of those people. We can't fill those roles because there are not enough people educated in this space. And luckily, you know, recently, in late 2018, the United States government passed the National Quantum Initiative Act, which brings over a billion dollars to quantum information science and quantum computing, to invest in research centers, workforce development, workforce training so that we're ready for this quantum economy and the quantum revolution. 

Insights: According to Microsoft, a 'quantum economy is coming.'

Quantum computing is expected to revolution business.

According to Microsoft, a 'quantum economy is coming.'

Quantum computing is expected to revolution business, but is the workforce ready?

But both of us are working in our communities and the broader community to help educate people around. What are the skills needed to enter the workforce? After all, this is gonna open up What we what we think of as an entirely new economy, right? A quantum economy is coming, and we need to prepare for that. We need to prepare for that by, you know, by training our workforce. And that's part of the reason for open sourcing the Q t k and for encouraging the use of Key Sharp. We also have a series of exercises to make it easy to learn to Sharp called the Quantum Kata. Um and, you know, with all of these, uh, these initiatives in these efforts were hoping that more people can engage around quantum computing. And you know, with that we can we can train a workforce that will be ready, right? Quantum software engineers, quantum developers. We also need cryogenic engineers materials scientist. Right. We need people that can enter the field at all layers of this quantum computing stack. And right now we're not in the position to have all of those people, right. We can't fill those roles because there are not enough people educated in this space. And luckily, the you know recently, in late 2018 the United States government passed the National Quantum Initiative Act, which brings over a $1,000,000,000 to quantum information science and quantum computing, to invest in research centers, workforce development, workforce training so that we're ready for for this quantum economy and the corner revolution.

Insights: Quantum Computing

Insights: IBM Unveils Groundbreaking Quantum Computing System

Latest video

The Q System One is the first quantum system to consolidate thousands of components into a glass-enclosed, air-tight environment built specifically for business use.

Videos (4 videos)

Insights: IBM Unveils Groundbreaking Quantum Computing System

Insights: The Vast Potential of Quantum Computing

Insights: Microsoft's Quantum Computing Lead Explains How It Works

Insights: According to Microsoft, a 'quantum economy is coming.'