Quantum computing moves forward to a new future

It’s time to cut to commercial.

That’s the message from quantum computing advocates who believe the technology is ready to deploy for organizations and companies that need quantum capabilities. It’s a big step forward for computing—if it’s viable.

Two advocates for quantum, Toshiba VP of Business Development and Marketing Terry Cronin and Quantum Corridor Founder and CTO Ryan Lafler, told IT Brew recently that they believe the technology is ready for primetime.

“We have a number of problems—from logistic problems to healthcare problems, drug synthesis problems—that we can help solve due to the quantum compute platform that we have,” Lafler said. “We also have time clock synchronization that will be on the tip of the spear for defense use cases in the future: stealth detection systems, missile guidance systems, perfect clock synchronization across computers.”

Unlocking the code. The security side of quantum has long been seen as the technology’s most important potential contribution to the IT industry. Cronin said that’s in large part because attackers are already preparing for the code-breaking capabilities of quantum computing, which will render much of the encryption currently used to protect data irrelevant.

“Leading companies are in the financial space and the utility space are starting to move forward with these networks to protect themselves,” Cronin said. “The average company…is still taking more of a wait-and-see approach—which is certainly a big risk, because every day we get closer to the time that a computer will be able to break that data.”

Spread far and wide. Once quantum computing is widely available—something AI has made more likely due to that technology’s ability to automate calculations and other processes for research gain—the decryption Cronin mentioned may be seen as a matter of course. But for now, the need for quantum computing outstrips the ability for most organizations to have highly specialized hardware on-site.

Murray Thom, VP of quantum technology evangelism at D-Wave, told IT Brew in January that his company’s compute solution is already helping companies like Pattison Food Group streamline their processes.

“Those are very real-world, tangible applications; they’re not research projects, we’re not doing abstract mathematical problems,” Thom said.

Where it’s at. Quantum computing has been mostly used in national labs and research institutions, but that’s changing. It’s migrated into real life, Lafler said, because there’s an appetite for the capabilities and what the technology can offer a varied customer base.

“There’s been this evolution of migrating these technologies out of the lab and distributing them into the hands of users,” Lafler said. “They’re not going to put a quantum computer on-prem; [with] the controls that it takes to host a quantum computer, it’s not realistic that they would do that.”