Monthly Archives: September 2019

Quantum Computer

Google Claims Quantum Supremacy, Leaked by the Financial Times

Cybersecurity

In a research forum shared by Google and NASA, the first claim of quantum supremacy was made. The report was removed from the site after the story was broken by the financial times.
A quote from the news breaking article; “Google claims to have built the first quantum computer that can carry out calculations beyond the ability of today’s most powerful supercomputers, a landmark moment that has been hotly anticipated by researchers. Google, claimed that their processor was able to perform a calculation in three minutes and 20 seconds that would take today’s most advanced classical computer, known as Summit, approximately 10,000 years.”
Source: “financial times, google claims to have reached quantum supremacy”.
What is quantum supremacy?
Quantum supremacy means that calculations have been completed by quantum computers that would take classical computers an insurmountable amount of time. This is an important milestone and indicator as to the viability and readiness of quantum computing for commercial applications.
The research paper from Google noted “This dramatic speed-up relative to all known classical algorithms provides an experimental realisation of quantum supremacy on a computational task and heralds the advent of a much-anticipated computing paradigm”.
A link to the article is available by searching google for “Financial Times, Google claims to have reached quantum supremacy”.
What does this mean for enterprises?
Enterprises should be paying attention to this breakthrough. Quantum supremacy indicates that quantum computers are getting stronger. It will not be long before enterprise grade, powerful quantum computers are in the hands of the public and potential bad actors. IronCAP’s API is available to protect enterprise digital assets and infrastructure from the threat of quantum computers.
IBM has also announced an opening of a quantum computation centre in New York State. 14 quantum computers, including the latest version a 53-qubit quantum computer will be available to commercial clients starting in October. Director of Research, Dario Gil is quoted; “Our strategy, since we put the very first quantum computer on the cloud in 2016, was to move quantum computing beyond isolated lab experiments conducted by a handful of organizations, into the hands of tens of thousands of users”.
More information is available at IBM’s newsroom (September 18th, 2019).

Andrew and Other Panelists Discussing Quantum Computing

September’s Quantum Computing Arrival Panel

Cybersecurity, , ,

Our Quantum Computing Arrival Panel was a hit. Our CEO, Andrew would like to thank fellow panelists Phil Kaye, PhD;  Roman Lutsiv, CFA, CMT; and Sean Oh for sharing insights. Thank you to attendees for your participation in a lively Q&A.

Phil kicked us off with an explanation of the differences between gate model quantum computing and quantum annealing (used by D-Wave). He spoke on optimization problems being solved by Quantum Computing, with an example being traffic routing in logistical challenges by Volkswagen.

Sean spoke next on what he has seen at the Quantum incubator at the creative destruction lab. He described some of the interesting start ups who had been through the program. He shared how the incubator helps develop the start-ups by connecting them with mentors and partners, as well as quantum computing hardware.

Roman spoke on how his company, Adaptive finance technologies, is using quantum computing and artificial intelligence to solve financial challenges. He spoke on how quantum computing is used in his application and the financial industry. Most notably, their products provide for AI and Machine learning driven investment management.

Andrew, IronCAP’s CEO, spoke on the need to be prepared for quantum computing’s arrival. He discussed known developments of quantum computers such as D-Wave and IBM. Having recently attended the NIST Conference where the world stage was well-represented, Andrew also mentioned unknown developments within foreign countries. Quantum computers are becoming more available to nation-state bad actors and companies can use IronCAP to defend themselves proactively.

We wrapped up the panel with many Q&As. All panelists agreed that companies should be doing more to prepare for quantum computing, and that the public and private sectors needed to work together to prevent brain-drain of IP and expertise to other countries.

Attendees now know that quantum computing has arrived and what we should do as organizations and individuals to adjust to this new reality. Did you miss the event but are curious as to what was said? Stay tuned for the video coming soon.