HPE GreenLake
Quantum Computing
What is Quantum Computing?
Quantum computing offers a huge edge over classical systems for certain types of problems, especially those modeling fundamentally quantum systems. These problems don’t affect all businesses, but for certain applications (like semiconductor design, or modeling molecules with complex atomic interactions to develop new materials and pharmaceuticals), quantum computers can address problems that today’s most powerful HPC systems can’t.
Quantum computing does this by processing information in a way that’s radically different from classical computing. Where conventional systems store information in bits representing either zero or one, quantum computers use quantum bits, or “qubits,” which can be in a state of zero and one at the same time. Taking advantage of quantum properties like superposition and entanglement, they can perform massively parallel processing operations, calculating millions of possible outcomes at once.
Quantum computing is often held up as a solution to all our data-driven prayers. But is that true? Or are there quicker, more practical ways than quantum computing to solve those problems? To answer the question, first we have to understand the differences between digital computing, analog computing and quantum computing.
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How are digital computing, analog computing, and quantum computing different?
Digital Computing
- Each bit is (always) 0 or 1
- We can watch it work without affecting the result
- Well understood error correction
- Very reliable and repeatable
- Uses a “clock” to run code, line by line
- High-volume CMOS manufacturing
Analog Computing- Each cell can be any value between 0 and 1
- We can watch it work without affecting the result
- Not tied to a clock
- Can be implemented using electronic or photonic components
- Mixed-signal/CMOS manufacturing
Quantum Computing
- Each qubit is 0 and 1 at the same time but collapses to 0 or 1 when you look at it
- You can’t watch a quantum computer work without destroying the calculation
- Runs “code” consisting of “gate operations” controlled by a conventional HPC system
- Not (yet) easy to make reliable or repeatable
- Exotic manufacturing
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What industries could benefit from quantum computing?
Quantum computing is efficient at tackling problems with which classical computing has struggled. A wide variety of industries could benefit from quantum computing power. For example, advanced cryptography could be made trivial with quantum computers; the aviation industry could more effectively optimize the routing and scheduling of aircrafts using quantum computing; and weather forecasting could be made significantly more accurate with the ability to account for more factors.
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HPE and quantum computing
Quantum computing has the potential to provide groundbreaking, transformative solutions for certain types of problems. IonQ’s technology has already surpassed all other quantum computers now available, demonstrating the largest number of usable qubits in the market. Its gate fidelity, which measures the accuracy of logical operations, is greater than 98% for both one-qubit and two-qubit operations, meaning IonQ’s quantum computing can handle longer calculations than other commercial quantum computers. HPE believes IonQ’s qubits and methodology are of such high quality, they will be able to scale to 100 qubits (and 10,000 gate operations) without needing any error correction. While most other quantum computing startups are still wrestling with fundamental problems in physics, the lingering challenges for IonQ are chiefly engineering ones.
Just as HPE makes it possible for its customers to apply multiple types of CPUs and GPUs to solve different kinds of problems, it sees a future where HPE customers can select quantum accelerators as easily any other type of compute and consume quantum computing on an as-a-Service basis. In a world where quantum is just one of many flexible compute options, HPE aims to take a leading role.