IBM announces commercial service "IBM Q" that can access quantum computers through the cloud

Quantum computer shifts from "research" to "development" stage in 2017While Nature predicts, IBM is preparing to move quantum computers to the stage of "commercialization" and within the year 2017 "IBM Q"We announced that it will provide cloud services using quantum computers for enterprises.

IBM Q - US
http://research.ibm.com/ibm-q/

IBM Will Unleash Commercial "Universal" Quantum Computers This Year - Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ibm-will-unleash-commercial-universal-quantum-computers-this-year/

IBM is launching the "IBM Q" division to turn quantum computing into an actual business - Quartz
https://qz.com/924433/ibm-thinks-its-ready-to-turn-quantum-computing-into-an-actual-business/

The quantum computing cloud service "IBM Q" announced by IBM is developed based on the free cloud service "Quantum Experience" which IBM has provided since May 2016. Like Quantum Experience, researchers who do not have a quantum computer can also build a quantum algorithm through the cloud.

Although it is said that IBM Q is a service using a quantum computer, it does not seem to be superior in performance to existing computers, but it can carry out complicated calculations more difficult than before, and the development of the future quantum computer market It is thought to be an important system to promote. IBM does not disclose any details such as the service start date, performance, cost, etc. of IBM Q, but the cost is payable and we are forecasting only to start service within 2017.


Quantum computing has "Topological Quantum Computer" which Microsoft is conducting research and "Quantum Computer using Superconductivity" which Google and IBM are aiming to realize. Every company except IBM is at the stage of research and development, but IBM will lead a step by the start of "IBM Q". All of the quantum computers are characterized by being capable of simultaneously performing the conventional calculation of "0 and 1" by quantum bits, and it is clear from the following article about the detailed mechanism.

A Quantum Computers Explained movie that lets you know what kind of mechanism a quantum computer 100 million times faster than a conventional PC moves through the physical limit - GIGAZINE


When "Quantum Experience" operating with five free superconducting qubits provided by IBM was announced, it was necessary to clear many challenges to "use quantum computer online" . Christopher Monroe, director of the Institute of Ion Traps at the University of Maryland, said, "It is worth doing quantum machines to run in the cloud, but it is worth the effort to make the system work normally It takes a lot of work to get it. "Many researchers said that Quantum Experience was considered" just advertising ".

IBM Q is expected to become a service with more quantum bits than Quantum Experience, and although it is not known exact qubit number, it is expected that it solves the problem which Quantum Experience had. Note that accessing a quantum computer on the cloud also requires the programmer to understand the "physical qubit limit". On the IBM Q website, "Quantum Card Game" that you can experience how it differs from traditional programming is also released.

Quantum Card Test - IBM Q - US
http://research.ibm.com/ibm-q/quantum-card-test/


It is Quantum Experience which was said to have many problems, but he has acquired 40,000 users from over 100 countries, and he was used to practice quantum computer programming at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate school. In addition, users of Quantum Experience have performed a total of 275,000 experiments, and 15 research papers using Quantum Experience are also published. Director Monroe of the Institute of Ion Trap at the University of Maryland aims to develop a cloud-based ion quantum service called "IonQ", and Google also draws a similar concept with a superconducting quantum computer. Starting with the arrival of IBM Q, the era of "Quantum Cloud" seems to be approaching by moment.