Commercially Available Quantum Computers

[Qwweb]

Information has been released about apparent plans that IBM has to release the first commercially available quantum computers. This could mark the first steps toward large-scale implementation of quantum computation which IBM is hoping will accelerate the development of further quantum technologies. There are not many applications for the technology as of right now, but quantum processing allows for much more data to be stored and represented.

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IBM has announced a major new initiative to make universal quantum computers available commercially. IBM Q will offer up the power of quantum computation via the IBM Cloud platform, a first for the industry, and potentially a major step forward for the field.

Quantum hardware has already been made available by the likes of D-Wave, but its hardware is limited in the kinds of computation it can achieve. IBM Q marks the first time that a universal quantum computer is being offered up. A universal quantum computer is capable of tackling problems that are too large for a conventional system, so IBM Q would have many applications beyond what's possible with current technology.

IBM is pledging that universal quantum computing systems will be made available to select industry partners over the coming years. The company expects to increase the capabilities of the hardware as time goes on.

 http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/03/06/ibm-plans-to-build-first-commercially-available-universal-quantum-computer.html

 

This will likely not have much effect on the consumer market, but for cloud-based computation this could be a huge step forward in applications such as encryption and raw number crunching.

 

Personally I am excited to see IBM's return to the forefront of technological research and development. What do you all think?

[Sniperfox47]

I'm curious how many qbits this system has. Afaik general purpose Quantum Computers have mostly been limited in that keeping more than a few qbits in quantum states has been next to impossible. The whole way the D-wave systems work is by making compromises that prevent general purpose compute...

 

I'll be interested to see where this goes.

[KyleKyleKyle]

Will I be able to play Minecraft on it?

[Qwweb]

Just now, Sniperfox47 said:

I'm curious how many qbits this system has.

IBM is hoping to release a system with 40 qubits for this within 1-3 years

[Sniperfox47]

Just now, Qwweb said:

IBM is hoping to release a system with 40 qubits for this within 1-3 years

That's actually quite impressive. If they can actually pull it off this will be a huge move forward in large scale compute. If they can pull it off.

[JamieOlive]

3 minutes ago, Qwweb said:

Information has been released about apparent plans that IBM has to release the first commercially available quantum computers. This could mark the first steps toward large-scale implementation of quantum computation which IBM is hoping will accelerate the development of further quantum technologies. There are not many applications for the technology as of right now, but quantum processing allows for much more data to be stored and represented.

 http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/03/06/ibm-plans-to-build-first-commercially-available-universal-quantum-computer.html

 

This will likely not have much effect on the consumer market, but for cloud-based computation this could be a huge step forward in applications such as encryption and raw number crunching.

 

Personally I am excited to see IBM's return to the forefront of technological research and development. What do you all think?

Ok, although this is really good news for everyone in the next ten years, how on earth is IBM gonna sell the idea to its customers. I mean cloud services are at the current time really really expensive and at the moment only Universities/Goverments and large scale International Projects could afford it.

 

Just now, Qwweb said:

IBM is hoping to release a system with 40 qubits for this within 1-3 years

40 QUBITS, thats actually quite highewrr than what I was expecting it and 1-3 years that timeframe seems a bit too early.

 

Anyhow I am quite sceptical about thsi whole thing, knowing how hard QC take to produce and maintain, but if they succeed we could see some real big changes in the consumer world in the next 5-7 years.

[KyleKyleKyle]

How will this system compare to the D-Wave and its 500qubits? Is there any way to actually compare them lol? I know it says D-Wave had to make some compromises for theirs. Also what type of applications would this help with?

[Qwweb]

1 minute ago, KyleKyleKyle said:

Also what type of applications would this help with?

It looks as if IBM is trying to use these machines to further research into new quantum technologies and better understanding how q-computers can be used in the future.

[KyleKyleKyle]

Just now, Qwweb said:

It looks as if IBM is trying to use these machines to further research into new quantum technologies and better understanding how q-computers can be used in the future.

 So they are using quantum computers to research quantum computers. I like dat. Skynet in 3..2..1..

[Sniperfox47]

1 minute ago, KyleKyleKyle said:

How will this system compare to the D-Wave and its 500qubits? Is there any way to actually compare them lol? I know it says D-Wave had to make some compromises for theirs. Also what type of applications would this help with?

There not directly comparable.

 

D-wave is more of a "quantum property" computer than a true quantum computer. Theyre only really good for a tiny number of very specific problems. Now don't get me wrong, the systems are useful since those problems are ridonculously hard for conventional computers, but thats their only application.

 

Most of the things people think about regarding quantum computers assume general purpose Quantum Computers. These are machines that can be used for general purpose parallel compute in a way that loosely resembles the graphics cards of today. Basically they can be programmed and applied to a much wider set of problems.

 

The fact that this is a general purpose Quantum computer, combined with the face that the Dwave qbits don't always show quantum behavior makes it very hard to compare the two.

 

If I was trying to break cryptographic communications I'd take a 40 qbit general purpose machine over a 4000qbit Dwave machine any day of the week.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Oh yeah this is good news. This is sure to help many industries lose a couple million xD. Nonetheless technology moving forward is always good for everyone.

[BrownZeus]

But will it run Crysis at 4k60fps?

[Qwweb]

1 minute ago, KyleKyleKyle said:

So they are using quantum computers to research quantum computers.

Basically boils down to classical computers not having the horsepower necessary to run quantum simulations at a rate that would accelerate human knowledge. But quantum computers are extremely adept at brute forcing solutions (trying everything until it solves a problem). By using current technology to accelerate the speed of acquisition of new tech is what I believe IBM is after here as the curve would theoretically be exponential as to how large the improvements would be over time. 

[captain cactus]

All for the low cost of an arm, a leg, one kidney and the left half of your brain.

[Orangeator]

6 minutes ago, BrownZeus said:

But will it run Crysis at 4k60fps?

No it will not as Crysis will only run on 32 bit and 64 bit. Not quantum processing.

[Sniperfox47]

3 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

No it will not as Crysis will only run on 32 bit and 64 bit. Not quantum processing.

What if it's a 64qbit processor?

[Qwweb]

Just now, Sniperfox47 said:

What if it's a 64qbit processor?

The inherent properties of a qubit don't allow for classical computation. The simplest way I can put this is that a qubit would be akin to turning binary from 1s and 0s into data bits represented by 1,0,1⁰,0⁰ with the 1⁰, and 0⁰ representing quantum spin-orientation based data pairs. In other words, a 64bit game would leave the quantum data unused and stress the processor. Not to mention that these computers do not currently output display visuals due to the fact that we have no way of visually representing quantum data.

[divito]

33 minutes ago, Qwweb said:

Personally I am excited to see IBM's return to the forefront of technological research and development. What do you all think?

They never stopped; all they did was exit the consumer space. 

As for the topic, pretty cool that they're getting so close to be able to deploy commercially.

[Sniperfox47]

Just now, Qwweb said:

The inherent properties of a qubit don't allow for classical computation. The simplest way I can put this is that a qubit would be akin to turning binary from 1s and 0s into data bits represented by 1,0,1⁰,0⁰ with the 1⁰, and 0⁰ representing quantum spin-orientation based data pairs. In other words, a 64bit game would leave the quantum data unused and stress the processor. Not to mention that these computers do not currently output display visuals due to the fact that we have no way of visually representing quantum data.

I know, I was just teasing sorry. Should have put a smiley to show it xP

[Qwweb]

Just now, Sniperfox47 said:

I know, I was just teasing sorry. Should have put a smiley to show it xP

I get that, but I thought that a gloss over would be good if someone who does not have prior knowledge of q-computers comes into the thread, it is weird stuff to think about as we do not have a concept of n^th dimensional dynamics.

[Coaxialgamer]

So this is comparable to early IBM/CRAY mainframes and the like ( if those where using the modern quantum equivalents of thermionic valves).

We still have some ways to go.  

[sazrocks]

I'm actually super hyped about quantum computing in general, but a problem has occurred to me: won't cryptography be broken (pun not intended) because of this?

 

What I'm saying is since not everyone will have a quantum computer (and won't for many years after), they will be forced to use current forms of cryptography, which however are child's play for quantum computers to crack. An example of this would be [insert country here]'s governement buying a bunch of these then using them to crack encryption of citizens/lesser equipped countries. On the flip side those who have these quantum computers would be able to use cryptography methods that would be unthinkable for normal computers, and thus keep lesser equipped people from ever hoping to be able to crack it, and thus create even more of a one way door than already exists. 

[SansVarnic]

Sitting and waiting patiently.

[FPSwithaWacomTablet]

19 hours ago, Qwweb said:

IBM is hoping to release a system with 40 qubits for this within 1-3 years

That's nuts, the number of possible states that achieves is crazy. 2^40 bits yo.