IBM has announced plans to open the first IBM Q Quantum Computation Center for commercial customers in Poughkeepsie, New York in 2019.
IBM Q Systems are designed to one day tackle problems that are currently considered too complex and exponential for classical systems. Future applications of quantum computing could include finding new ways to calculate financial data and isolate key global risk factors to make better investments, or finding the best route across global systems for highly efficient logistics and optimizing fleet operations for deliveries.
Designed by IBM scientists, systems engineers and industrial designers, the IBM Q System One features an advanced, modular and compact design optimized for stability, reliability and continuous commercial use. For the first time, the IBM Q System One enables world-class superconducting quantum computers to operate beyond the confines of the research laboratory.
While classical computers combine many components into a single integrated architecture optimized to work together, IBM is taking the same approach to quantum computing with the world’s first integrated quantum computing system. IBM Q System One is comprised of a series of custom components that work together to operate as the most advanced cloud-based quantum computing program, including:
- Quantum hardware designed to be stable and automatically calibrated to deliver repeatable and predictable high-quality qubits
- Cryogenic engineering that provides a continuously cold and isolated quantum environment.
- High-precision electronics in compact form factors for the rigorous control of large numbers of qubits.
- Quantum firmware to manage system health and enable system upgrades without downtime for users.
- Classical computing to provide secure cloud access and hybrid execution of quantum algorithms.
The IBM Q Quantum Computation Center, opening later this year in Poughkeepsie, New York, will expand the IBM Q Network commercial quantum computing program, which already includes systems at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown, New York . The new center will house some of the most advanced cloud- based quantum computing systems , accessible to members of the IBM Q Network, a global community of leading Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions and national research laboratories working with IBM to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications for business and science.
IBM Poughkeepsie's unique history in computing spans the development of IBM's first line of enterprise-class computers in the 1950s, the IBM 700 series, and the IBM System/360 in the 1960s, which revolutionized the world by changing the way businesses think about computing hardware. Now home to one of the world's most powerful classical systems, the IBM mainframe, IBM Poughkeepsie is one of the few places in the world with the technical capabilities, infrastructure, and expertise to operate a quantum computing center, the performance computing systems, and a high-availability data center required to operate alongside quantum computers.
“IBM Q System One is a significant step forward in the commercialization of quantum computing,” said Arvind Krishna, vice president of Hybrid Cloud and director of IBM Research. “This new system is critical to extending quantum computing beyond the walls of the research lab as we work to develop practical quantum applications for business and science.”.
IBM brought together a global team of industrial designers, architects and manufacturers to work alongside IBM researchers and systems engineers to design the IBM Q System One, including British industrial and interior design studios Map Project Office and Universal Design Studio, and Goppion, a manufacturer of high-end music exhibition spaces that protect some of the world's most valuable art, including the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, and the Coral Jewels in the Tower of London.
Together, these collaborators designed the first quantum system to house thousands of components in a glass-enclosed, airtight environment built specifically for professional use, a milestone in the evolution of commercial quantum computers.
This integrated system aims to address one of the most challenging aspects of quantum computing: preserving the quality of the qubits used to perform quantum calculations. Powerful yet fragile, qubits quickly lose their special quantum properties, typically within 100 microseconds (for state-of-the-art ultra-fast qubits), in part due to environmental noise from vibrations, temperature fluctuations, and electromagnetic waves. Protecting against this interference is one of the many reasons why quantum computers and their components require careful engineering and isolation.
This new system marks the next evolution of IBM Q, the industry’s first attempt to introduce the public to programmable universal quantum computing services through the cloud-based IBM Q Experience technology and the commercial IBM Q Network platform for business and scientific applications. The free and publicly available IBM Q Experience has been operating since May 2016 and now has more than 100,000 users, who have performed more than 6.7 million experiments and published more than 130 third-party research papers. Developers have also downloaded Qiskit, an open-source software development kit. The IBM Q Network includes recent additions from Argonne National Laboratory, CERN, ExxonMobil, Fermilab and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
