From Fast Company, September 7:
In launching its own online service, the Berkeley-based upstart Rigetti aspires to be the Amazon of cloud-based quantum computing.
Quantum computing–which harnesses the peculiar physics of subatomic scale–long appeared to be a technology of the far future, maybe decades away. But the sci-fi tech is coming to market way sooner than was expected just a few years ago, due to new thinking on how to make use of its still-imperfect capabilities. Along with behemoths like Google and IBM, Berkeley-based company Rigetti is making a bid to grab the market. And it may—at the moment at least—be in the lead.
Today the startup launches a project in the mold of Amazon Web Services (AWS) called Quantum Cloud Services. “What this platform achieves for the very first time is an integrated computing system that is the first quantum cloud services architecture,” says Chad Rigetti, founder and CEO of his namesake company. The dozen initial users Rigetti has announced include biotech and chemistry companies harnessing quantum technology to study complex molecules in order to develop new drugs.
I met the physicist earlier this week to see what a quantum data center looks like. Next to each of several fat white cylinders holding the super-cooled quantum computers are racks of traditional servers–constituting the quantum-classical hybrid systems that are bringing this bizarre physics to market.
The particular operations that the quantum end of the system can do, while still limited and error-prone, are nearly good enough to boost the performance of traditional computers beyond what they could do on their own–a coming milestone called quantum advantage. “My guess is this could happen anytime from six to 36 months out,” says Rigetti.
o-called hybrid algorithms leveraging both systems are able to spot and correct some errors. And even imperfect results from quantum computers can be good enough in many cases, either flat-out exceeding what traditional computer technology can do, or producing results faster or cheaper.
Rigetti has been playing this angle, creating a software development kit called Forest (because it’s an ecosystem, says Chad) that allows programmers to access hybrid systems. Like other companies such as IBM, Rigetti has been allowing developers to access small-scale quantum computers online to essentially start working out how to program for them. The company learned a lot since opening this up in December 2017, says Rigetti. For instance, it originally tried providing just the quantum end of the system from its own data centers, linking it to traditional computers running on AWS. But the lag time between the systems, though minimal, was long enough to limit performance....MUCH MORE
Hence the decision to provide all the computing in its own Berkeley data center. Rigetti is now inviting customers to apply for free access to these systems, toward the goal of developing a real-world application that achieves quantum advantage. As an extra incentive, the first to make it wins a $1 million prize. “What we want to do is focus on the commercial utility and applicability of these machines, because ultimately that’s why this company exists,” says Rigetti. (On that promise, the company has raised $119.5 million from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz.)...
Previously:
April 2017
Quantum Computing Startup Rigetti Computing Raises $64 Million in Funding
February 2018
You Think the Have/Have-not Divide Is Big Now? Just Wait Until AI has a Quantum Computer Brain
