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Monday, September 25, 2017

IBM Research on the road to commercial Quantum Computing

By Rich Ptak




Dario Gil, Vice President AI, IBM Research and Bob Sutor, Vice President AI, Blockchain, and Quantum Solutions, IBM Research recently provided a briefing IBM’s perspective on the state of Quantum Computing. They describe three phases in the evolution of Quantum Computing. They describe IBM efforts and contributions as well as a very recent and significant IBM Research breakthrough on the road to commercializing quantum computing.

The breakthrough is in practical Quantum Computing technology. It marks a significant advance towards commercialization of Quantum Computing. We’ll talk about why in a minute. First a few words about quantum computing. The building blocks of this technology are quantum bits, or qubits, which are the quantum informational equivalent of classical bits, the basis of contemporary computing. Bits have only two states. They are either 0 or 1, i.e. binary – from there all of computing is built.

Individual qubits can exist in much more complex states than simple 0’s and 1’s, storing information in phases and amplitudes. Additionally, the states of multiple qubits can be entangled, meaning that their states are no longer independent of each other. The fact that quantum information can be represented and manipulated in these ways allows us to approach algorithms (instructions that are used to solve problems) fundamentally differently, opening up opportunities for exponentially faster computation. A major challenge to be overcome is how to design algorithms that can make use of these properties to solve problems that are traditionally difficult for conventional machines, like efficiently simulating materials. In this case the molecules at the heart of chemistry and material science.

A cover story article in the September issue of Nature magazine details how IBM researchers demonstrated a highly efficient algorithm that simulates beryllium hydride (BeH2), and then implemented that algorithm on a real quantum computer. This demonstration was the largest molecular simulation on a quantum computer to date. You can link to the article here. Unfortunately, it is behind a paywall, but there are plenty of other highly interesting articles on Quantum technology and other topics available there. IBM’s announcement with a short explanation can be found here. Read the article for more details about the breakthrough.

What matters today to enterprises, business and more

The most enterprise-significant parts of the announcement are in the implication for commercial enterprises. These are exposed in the details of IBM’s vision and focus about the commercialization of Quantum Computing technology. It provides insightful information and structure for making decisions about when to begin investigating Quantum Computing and its potential to affect your enterprise or business.
Image Courtesy of IBM, Inc. 

IBM considers the initial commercialization of Quantum Computing to be within sight. It may be as much as a decade away, but can reasonably be considered to be close enough for some early enterprise movers with interest, resources, and vision to begin exploring the technology and its potential.

Let’s position where Quantum Computing is today. The speakers described three phases of Quantum Computing These are:
·        Phase 1 – development of Quantum Science – interest began in the 1920’s, it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the attention of computer scientists’ attention was captured. This led to a decades-long effort to discover and define the physics of quantum technology and then develop the theories and concepts to build-out the science leading to Quantum Computing technology. Quantum Science underlies the entire field, and will continue as long as there is research to be done to continue to advance the technology.
·         Phase 2 – emergence of Quantum Technology – began May 2016 when IBM provided free access to the first publicly-accessible Quantum Computing prototype, e.g. IBM Q experience, on the IBM Cloud. The opportunity to experiment on a real device led to the creation of new problem-solving tools, algorithms, and even games as real Quantum Computers became accessible to the first wave of users beyond theoretical physicists and computer theoreticians. These new users are practitioners; developers, engineers, thinkers and researchers including scientists, chemists, mathematicians, etc. Their efforts focus on understanding and articulating problems in quantum terms. The phase will end when the now-wider quantum information community discovers the first applications where the use of quantum computing offers an advantage for solving certain classes of problems. This leads to the next phase…
·         Phase 3 – the age of Quantum Advantage – the age of full commercialization of Quantum Computing. It will be marked with the delivery of apps able to fully exploit Quantum Technology to solve commercial problems. Quantum Computing begins to compete, in some areas, with traditional computing methods by offering multiple orders of magnitude increases in processing speeds and computational complexity for certain classes of problems.

Things to keep in mind and conclusions:

Quantum Computing systems that can handle commercial-scale problems don’t exist yet. A considerable amount of research and development work needs to be done before you can begin to contemplate configuring a system of software and infrastructure. But the first serious prototype systems that lay the foundations for the more mature machines of the future do exist. Is it time to begin to develop some understanding of Quantum Computing, how it functions and how it is currently being used?
Quantum Computing will complement, not replace, traditional computing. By its nature, it is best suited to solving certain classes of problems that are traditionally-difficult to solve with conventional machines. These are problems where solving them requires evaluating many alternatives to find the best solution, each of which alternatives may be computationally intensive to evaluate. Today, many problems are addressed (and will remain so) with traditional computing simulation, modeling and statistical analysis, albeit while making simplifying assumptions. For many applications, solutions obtained with traditional computing techniques will be adequate. Also, despite some recent claims, Quantum Computing does not invalidate or decrease the need for recently announced advances in computing security. Such protections will remain critical to secure computing long into the future. 
For other applications, computing alternatives are needed, especially in cases that require simulating quantum behaviors. These include modeling chemical compounds, which requires the ability to predict molecular-level interactions. It is believed that wherever the analysis involves evaluating an incredibly large number of combinations of items, Quantum Computing will have a distinct advantage. Some other examples of nearer-term applications of Quantum Computing include optimization and machine learning.
So, what’s the conclusion? First, as we said, commercialized Quantum Computing is still in the future. It is not ready to address short- or medium-term issues. But, that day is coming. At this stage, most can ignore this technology. But, there also are some that should allocate a portion of their resources (time, budget) to get educated about Quantum Computing. Quantum Computing will realize its biggest advantages when users can define problems in its terms. That requires an understanding of the technology.
Clearly, the level of recommended activity varies with the potential to impact. You need to get a realistic idea of that potential. One approach would be to take advantage of IBM’s offer for free access to its Quantum Computing prototype[1]. Another approach would be to fund a sandbox project, or an off-hours task to learn more about and explore quantum technology.  AND thinking about problems in Quantum terms. IBM is making a considerable amount of resources available to do so, much of which is free, some not.  
In summary, our advice is to concentrate on:
·         Understanding the basics of Quantum Computing approach to determine its potential to impact you and your business. We expect most will find its potential optimization benefits too attractive to resist.
·         Learning about and understanding how Quantum Computing will change how problems are viewed, articulated and programmed for solutions.
·         Considering encouragement of “sandbox” or “off-hours” efforts to learn more about Quantum Computing; formal or informal depending on organizational resources and culture.
·         If the potential impact is significant (and we think it is for many), assign a senior executive the responsibility to keep current on the status of Quantum Computing. 
Finally, there exists no single standard for comparing Quantum Computing status today. The metric of the number of qubits available in an array (that makes up a system) – is insufficient.  For a time, conventional “wisdom” posited it as ‘horse-race’ with more qubits being better.
However, the number of qubits alone don’t work if there isn’t time to execute an algorithm (application) before a qubit array ‘ages’ to a bit and loses the data. A way needs to be found to control/correct such error rates. There are three issues: 1) the life of the qubit array, 2) the time for an algorithm to execute, 3) error correction/avoidance.
Researchers are working on these but no single metric yet exists to measure and relate progress. More about these efforts and other issues appear in IEEE Spectrum and Nature magazine, mentioned earlier. 




Publication Date: September 25, 2017
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