{"id":1888,"date":"2019-01-25T14:43:11","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T14:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/?p=1888"},"modified":"2019-01-25T14:43:11","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T14:43:11","slug":"carlos-perez-delgado-on-ibm-launch-of-commercial-quantum-computing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/2019\/01\/25\/carlos-perez-delgado-on-ibm-launch-of-commercial-quantum-computing\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Perez-Delgado on IBM launch of commercial quantum computing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Perez-Delgado has written an article for The Conversation<\/em><\/a> entitled ‘IBM launches commercial quantum computing \u2013 we\u2019re not ready for what comes\u00a0next.’<\/p>\n

IBM recently unveiled what it claimed was the world\u2019s first commercial quantum computer. While the announcement of the Q System One wasn\u2019t scientifically groundbreaking, the fact that IBM sees this as a commercial product that organisations (if not individuals) will want to use is an important breakthrough.<\/p>\n

IBM has taken a prototype technology that has existed in the lab for over 20 years and launched it in the real world. In doing so, it marks an important step towards the next generation of computing technology becoming ubiquitous, something the world isn\u2019t yet ready for. In fact, quantum may well prove to be the most disruptive technology of the information age.<\/p>\n

Quantum computers work by exploiting the weird phenomenon described by quantum physics, like the ability of an object to be, in a very real sense, in more than one place at the same time. Doing so enables them to solve problems in seconds that would take the age of the universe to solve on even the most powerful of today\u2019s supercomputers.<\/p>\n

Too expensive?<\/strong>
\nThe one criticism typically laid against quantum technologies is that they are \u201ctoo expensive\u201d, and will continue to be so even as they become more readily available. This is certainly the case today. IBM isn\u2019t making its quantum computer available to buy but rather to access over the internet. But this shows the technology is on its way to becoming affordable in the near future.<\/p>\n

Quantum computers are very easily disrupted by changes in the environment and take a long time to reset. So IBM has developed a protective system to keep the Q System One stable enough to perform tasks for commercial customers, which are likely to include large companies, universities and research organisations that want to run complex simulations. As a result, IBM believes it has a commercially viable product, and is putting its money where its mouth is.<\/p>\n

History shows us that technologies can experience rapid growth in use and capability once they become viable commercial products. After conventional digital computers became commercially viable, they experienced an exponential explosion referred to commonly as Moore\u2019s Law. Roughly every two years, computers have doubled in power while their size and costs have fallen by half. This \u201claw\u201d is really just a trend that has been made possible, in part, by market forces.<\/p>\n

The IBM announcement does not guarantee that quantum computers will now experience Moore\u2019s Law-style exponential growth of their own. It does, however, make that explosion likelier and sooner.<\/p>\n