Security experts have long worried that advances in quantum computing could eventually make it easier to break encryption that protects the privacy of peoples data. Thats because these sophisticated machines can perform calculations at speeds impossible for conventional computers, potentially enabling them to crack codes previously thought indecipherable.

Now, a Swiss technology company says it has made a breakthrough by using quantum computers to uncover vulnerabilities in commonly used encryption. The company believes its found a security weakness that could jeopardize the confidentiality of the worlds internet data, banking transactions and emails.

Terra Quantum AG said its discovery upends the current understanding of what constitutes unbreakable encryption and could have major implications for the worlds leading technology companies, such as Alphabet Inc.s Google, Microsoft Corp., and International Business Machines Corp.

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But some other security experts said they arent nearly ready to declare a major breakthrough, at least not until the company publishes the full details of its research. If true, this would be a huge result, said Brent Waters, a computer science professor who specialises in cryptography at the University of Texas at Austin. It seems somewhat unlikely on the face of it. However, it is pretty hard for experts to weigh in on something without it being published.

IBM spokesman Christopher Sciacca said his company has known the risks for 20 years and is working on its own solutions to address the issue of post-quantum security. This is why the National Institute of Science & Technology (NIST) has been hosting a challenge to develop a new quantum safe crypto standard, he said in an email. IBM has several proposals for this new standard in the final round, which is expected in a few years.

Brian LaMacchia, distinguished engineer at Microsoft, said company cryptographers are collaborating with the global cryptographic community to prepare customers and data centers for a quantum future. Preparing for security in a post-quantum world is important not only to protect and secure data in the future but also to ensure that future quantum computers are not a threat to the long-term security of todays information.

Google didnt reply to a message seeking comment.

Terra Quantum AG has a team of about 80 quantum physicists, cryptographers and mathematicians, who are based in Switzerland, Russia, Finland and the US What currently is viewed as being post-quantum secure is not post-quantum secure, said Markus Pflitsch, chief executive officer and founder of Terra Quantum, in an interview. We can show and have proven that it isnt secure and is hackable.

Also read: Heres how an encrypted, locked Android and Apple phone gets bypassed

Pflitsch founded the company in 2019. Hes a former finance executive who began his career as a research scientist at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Terra Quantums research is led by two chief technology officers Gordey Lesovik, head of the Laboratory of Quantum Information Technology at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and Valerii Vinokur, a Chicago-based physicist who in 2020 won the Fritz London Memorial Prize for his work in condensed matter and theoretical physics.

The company said that its research found vulnerabilities that affect symmetric encryption ciphers, including the Advanced Encryption Standard, or AES, which is widely used to secure data transmitted over the internet and to encrypt files. Using a method known as quantum annealing, the company said its research found that even the strongest versions of AES encryption may be decipherable by quantum computers that could be available in a few years from now.

Vinokur said in an interview that Terra Quantums team made the discovery after figuring out how to invert whats called a hash function, a mathematical algorithm that converts a message or portion of data into a numerical value. The research will show that what was once believed unbreakable doesnt exist anymore, Vinokur said, adding that the finding means a thousand other ways can be found soon.

Read more: Chinese scientists make world's first light-based quantum computer: Report

The company, which is backed by the Zurich-based venture capital firm Lakestar LP, has developed a new encryption protocol that it says cant be broken by quantum computers. Vinokur said the new protocol utilizes a method known as quantum key distribution.

Terra Quantum is currently pursuing a patent for the new protocol. But the company will make it available for free, according to Pflitsch. We will open up access to our protocol to make sure we have a safe and secure environment, said Pflitsch. We feel obliged to share it with the world and the quantum community.

The US government, like China, has made research in quantum computing research an economic and national security priority, saying that the world is on the cusp of what it calls a new quantum revolution. In addition, technology companies including Google, Microsoft, and IBM have made large investments in quantum computing in recent years.

More:

A Swiss company claims it used quantum computers to find weakness in encryption - HT Tech

Scientists and engineers at the University of Sydney and Microsoft Corporation have developed a device that can handle thousands of qubits. To put things in perspective, the current state-of-the-art quantum computer can control only 50 qubits at a time.

Scaled-up quantum computers require control interfaces to manipulate or readout a large number of qubits, which usually operate at temperatures close to absolute zero (1 Kelvin or -273 degrees celsius).

The complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology has its limitations due to high thermodynamic dissipation, leading to heating of the fragile quantum bits. Overheating of quantum bits compromises its quantumness, the property of being in two states at the same time (also called superposition).

The current architecture uses multiple connections as every qubit is controlled by external circuitry with a separate electrical connection, generating a lot of heat.

The scientists from the University of Sydney built a CMOS interface between the qubits and the external circuitry, in such a way that the CMOS chip can generate control pulses for multiple qubits, with just four low-bandwidth wires, at 0.1 Kelvin, a temperature 30 times colder than deep space, with ultralow power dissipation.

The interface consists of four low-bandwidth wires at room temperature to provide input signals to the chip, which then configures 32 analogue circuit blocks to control the qubits that use dynamic voltage signals.

Analogue circuit boards use the low leakage of the transistors to generate dynamic voltage signals for manipulating qubits, consuming significantly less power.

Quantum computers are at a similar stage that classical computers were in their 40s when machines needed control rooms to function.

However, this chip, according to the scientists, is the most advanced integrated circuit ever built to operate at deep cryogenic temperatures.

The quantum computers that we have now are still lab prototypes and are not commercially relevant yet. Hence, this is definitely a big step towards building practical and commercially relevant quantum computers, said Mr Viraj Kulkarni, But I think that we are still far away from it.

This is because of the Error Correction. Any computing device always has errors in it and no electronic device can be completely perfect. There are various techniques that computers use to correct those errors.

Now the problem with quantum computing is that qubits are very fragile. Even a slight increase in temperature, vibrations, or even cosmic rays can make qubits lose their quantumness, and this introduces errors. So the key question of whether we can really control these errors is still relevant.

Nivedita Dey, research coordinator at Quantum Research and Development Labs, said the qubit noise is still a roadblock in developing quantum computers.

One of the biggest challenges in implementing a quantum circuit in this Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) era is qubit noise, which causes hindrance in commercial availability of fault-tolerant full-scale quantum computers, said Ms Dey.

This approach can be well suited for practical quantum applications and might reduce the number of error-correcting qubits to be associated with noisy qubits, she added.

If quantum computing does prove to be commercially viable, it will open up completely new avenues.

A plane is not just faster than a car, it can also fly, said Mr Kulkarni, drawing an analogy between quantum computers and conventional computers. The idea is that quantum computers are not just faster, but at the same time will provide us with solutions that are better, especially in AI.

Hence, many applications in AI including complex mathematical equations, drug discovery by enabling chemical simulations, or building financial applications to come up with a better strategy will be solved in a faster and efficient way.

In the end its a tool, so any function a conventional computer can achieve, quantum computers will be able to do it faster and better.

Original post:

Microsoft Scientists Build Chip That Can Handle Thousands Of Qubits - Analytics India Magazine

In the past, investment control law has been continuously tightened (see the Amendments to the Foreign Trade an Payments Act (AWG-Novelle) as well as the 15th and 16th Amendment Ordinance of the AWV. The draft of the 17th Amendment Ordinance to the AWV has been eagerly awaited, as publication has been repeatedly postponed due to the intensive and lengthy process of interdepartmental coordination.

The 17th Amendment Ordinance to the AWV, which is now available in draft form, completes the adaptation to the amendment made to the AWG (Foreign Trade and Payments Act) and the EU Screening Regulation 2019/452 (EU Screening Regulation), which was adopted in March 2019. The amendment particularly massively expands the catalogue of critical sectors and technologies. Further amendments are derived from the inspection practice of the authorities and serve to strengthen the effectiveness of the investment inspection. In the following, the amendments are presented in more detail, as well as where ambiguities exist and what further effects on practice are to be expected.

Highlights of the changes:

The new Section 55a AWV-E

For the sake of clarity, the sectors and technologies previously listed in Section 55 (1) sentence 2 AWV and the newly added sectors and technologies relevant to the audit are now presented in a new Section 55a AWV-E (Section 55a (1) nos. 1-27 AWV-E). If the activity of a target company is listed there, an impairment of public order or security is particularly obvious. In such cases, the draft bill speaks of an indication of special security relevance of the target company. For the listed areas, restrictive orders (conclusion of a contract under public law up to a prohibition) can be considered.

Expansion of audit-relevant companies Section 55a (1) No. 13 27 AWV-E

The new areas introduced by the German legislator, which are largely based on the list in Art. 4(1) of the EU Screening Regulation, can be divided into different categories.

Artificial intelligence, robotics, semiconductors (Section 55a (1) nos. 13, 15, 16 lit. a AWV-E)

As a new category of companies with special relevance for public security or order, the areas of artificial intelligence, robotics and semiconductors find their way into the new catalogue. Thus, goods are to be subject to the investment protection regime that solve concrete application problems by means of artificial intelligence processes and are capable of independently optimising their algorithms and can be used for certain abusive purposes. The abusive purposes are:

It should be emphasised that the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has restricted the scope of application of the use of AI to the extent that it must be possible to use AI for misuse purposes. Against the background that a large number of companies use AI in their software programmes, the restriction makes sense. Nevertheless, the possibility of misuse for the purposes mentioned above is sufficient. According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, an obligation to report already applies if the overall circumstances make misuse as a result of the acquisition appear possible (draft bill, p. 27).

Nos. 15 and 16 lit. a) serve to particularly protect industrial robots and integrated circuits. Not only since the purchase of the industrial robot manufacturer Kuka has this field been one of the key technologies worth protecting. In addition to the developers and manufacturers of such robots, there is a particular audit relevance with regard to the companies that provide specific IT services for the aforementioned companies.

The legislator understands the generic term semiconductor to mean integrated circuits on a substrate as well as discrete semiconductors, i.e. circuit elements located in their own housing with their own external connections. The circuit element is a single active or passive functional unit of an electronic circuit, e.g. a diode, a transistor, a resistor or a capacitor (draft bill, p. 27). Practice will show whether the companies that are particularly relevant to the audit can be sufficiently delimited on the basis of the definition given.

Cyber security, aerospace, quantum and nuclear technology (Section 55a (1) Nos. 17-20 AWV-E)

Explicit protection is also afforded to the IT security and forensics sector if companies manufacture or develop IT security products. This serves to concretise the cyber security mentioned in the EU Screening Regulation. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy points out that products for the physical protection of IT systems (such as server room doors or on-board protection foils) are not covered. Applications that have IT security functions in addition to their main purpose are also not covered. However, virus protection programmes or firewalls, for example, are covered.

Furthermore, Nos. 18 to 20 protect dual-use goods from aerospace and nuclear and quantum technology. With regard to aerospace, in addition to aviation companies, companies whose product portfolio includes dual-use goods from the field of aviation electronics and navigation (subcategory 7A, 7B, 7D or 7E of Annex I to the Dual-Use Regulation) or aviation, space and propulsion (subcategory 9A, 9B, 9D or 9E of the Dual-Use Regulation) are also covered. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy defines nanotechnology as goods of category 0 or of list items 1B225, 1B226, 1B228, 1B231, 1B232, 1B233 or 1B235 of Annex I to the Dual-Use Regulation. Quantum technology includes quantum computing, quantum computer, quantum sensing, quantum metrology, quantum cryptography, quantum communication and quantum simulation.

Autmated driving or fyling, optoelectronics and additive manufacturing (Section 55a (1) No. 14, 16 lit. b), 21 AWV)

The areas of automated driving and flying are not explicitly mentioned in the EU screening regulations catalogue of examples. However, in view of the highly dynamic technical progress, the German legislator sees a considerable risk to public safety in these areas. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has already focused on products that can be used for autonomous driving in the past. The protection of additive manufacturing must also be understood in the context of technological progress.

Colloquially, this area is known as 3D printing. The possibilities offered by the 3D printing process can also be used for military product development or for the production of spare parts for sensitive goods. In this respect, the legislator has deemed this area worthy of protection.

Supply-relevant key infrastructures (Section 55a (1) Nos. 22-24 AWV-E)

The new case group number 22 is intended to protect network technologies to strengthen the security and defence industry. The case group serves to implement the German governments strategy paper on strengthening the security and defence industry from February 2020 as well as the EU Commissions 5G Toolbox, which has explicitly pointed out that investment control is one of the means to ensure a safer 5G roll-out in Europe. Network technologies are security-relevant IT and communication technologies that are to be used, for example, in the expansion of 5G technology. Intelligent metering systems (smart meters) are also protected in number 23. In the wrong hands, control over smart meters could endanger data security and the energy supply as a whole.

In No. 24, the legislator also provides special protection for companies that provide services in the field of information and communication technology for the Federal Republic of Germany. The inclusion of the regulation is to be seen against the background of the establishment and operation of digital radio.

Critical raw materials, secret patents or utility models and agriculture and food industry (Section 55a (1) Nos. 25-27 AWV-E)

In addition, the catalogue also covers companies that extract or produce goods or substances of particular relevance. Therefore, companies that extract critical raw materials or ores as well as companies that are of fundamental importance for food security and cultivate an agricultural area of more than 10,000 hectares were included in the catalogue. Critical resources and strategic assets are thus to receive special protection and the food supply is to be ensured. Also, the protection of goods to which the scope of protection of a secret patent or utility model extends is to be included in order to protect sensitive information.

Legal consequences for the acquisition of shareholdings in target companies

The legal consequences remain essentially unchanged if the target company is named in the catalogue of Section 55a (1) AWV-E. The obligation to report the conclusion of a contract under the law of obligations for the acquisition of a domestic enterprise specified in the catalogue is now found in Section 55a (4) AWV-E. The report must be made immediately. Until the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy issues the release, enforcement is prohibited (section 15 (4) sentence 1 AWG). A violation constitutes a criminal offence or, in the case of negligence, a administrative offence.

Clarifications from the practice of the authorities

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is using the amendment to include clarifications for partial questions that have arisen in the practice of the authorities in recent years.

h2. Circumvention transactions and additional purchases of shares

The circumvention transactions regulated in Section 55 (2) AWV are expanded in the new Section 55 (2) AWV-E. Such transactions now also explicitly include acquisitions of shareholdings in the same domestic company that are coordinated in such a way that, when considered separately, none of the acquisitions constitute a reportable shareholding.

Notifiable voting rights are specified in the new paragraphs 2 and 3 of section 56 AWV-E. Any further acquisition of shareholdings above the limit of 10 per cent of the voting rights in an enterprise within the meaning of Section 55a (1) AWV-E or 25 per cent of the voting rights of another enterprise are also subject to the notification requirement. This was already the practice of the authorities and has now been clarified by the inclusion in the AWV.

The acquisition of an effective participation in any other way in the management or control of the domestic company also triggers the reporting obligation under the new Section 56 (3) AWV-E. Since the filling of strategic positions in companies can go hand in hand with rights to information with regard to knowledge worthy of protection, such constellations are equated with an acquisition of voting rights. With this adjustment, the legislator is rounding off the reporting obligation and wants to exclude circumvention constellations as far as possible.

The addition of the voting rights of third parties can now be found in section 56 (4) AWV-E. The obligation to report is already triggered if it can be assumed that voting rights are exercised jointly due to the other circumstances of the acquisition. This also applies if the agreement on the joint exercise of voting rights is only concluded after the acquisition of the shareholding. Other circumstances are presumed if the acquirer and at least one third party from the same third country directly or indirectly hold an interest in the domestic company.

h2. Release of acquisition

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has clarified that in the case of the existence of a notification obligation pursuant to Section 55a (1), an application for clearance is excluded (Section 58 (3) AWV-E). In cases of doubt regarding the obligation to report, the acquirer may combine the report with an alternative application for a clearance certificate.

Extension of the sector-specific examination to all military equipment within the meaning of Part I Section A of the Export List

For the sector-specific assessment, the previous notion of risk is replaced by the assessment criterion of probable impairment in accordance with the new legal situation for the cross-sectoral investment assessment. However, the essential security interests remain the criterion for assessment. According to the newly formulated case group number 1, such interests are already probably impaired if the enterprise develops, manufactures or modifies goods within the meaning of Part I Section A of the Export List or has actual control over such goods. A company that at least also has contact points with goods from Part I Section A of the Export List is therefore to be covered by the new Section 60 (1) No. 1 AWV-E. Previously, only certain sub-sectors of the Export List were covered by the sector-specific examination. Its scope of application is thus considerably expanded.

Control of orders and the obligations regulated in a public law contract

Within the framework of the amendment to the AWG, the possibility has been introduced to commission third parties to monitor the obligations assumed by a public law contract or imposed by orders (Section 23 (6b) AWG). This procedure allows the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to use personnel resources for inspection activities and to outsource monitoring. The ordinance regulates who may perform this monitoring activity as a third party. These are persons who are competent, reliable and independent of the obligated parties and the other parties involved in the acquisition (Section 59 (4) AWV-E).

Change of procedure in the examination procedure pursuant to Section 62a AWV-E

Section 62a AWV-E is to be inserted in a new subsection. If it becomes apparent in a cross-sectoral review procedure or a sector-specific review procedure that the requirements for a prohibition or the issuing of orders via the respective other procedure are met, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy may continue the respective review procedure on the basis of the requirements of the provisions of the other procedure. Consequently, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy can react flexibly to new findings in the ongoing procedure.

Conclusion

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energys attempt to concretise the scope of application of companies relevant to public order or security is to be welcomed in principle. However, the new Section 55a AWV-E leaves many questions of detail open. It must therefore be assumed that in practice, in case of doubt, a report must be made in order to avoid committing an administrative offence or even a criminal offence. The amendment of the AWV will therefore lead to a considerable expansion of the number of cases subject to reporting and auditing. This will be accompanied by a significant increase in the workload for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The expanded sector-specific audit will also contribute to an increase in audit cases. Furthermore, the additional workload caused by the EU cooperation mechanism is hardly foreseeable. According to the explanatory memorandum, Germanys previous practice of only reporting cases for which an in-depth examination was carried out is no longer valid. Within the framework of the cooperation mechanism, cases that are to be decided within the two-month period must therefore also be reported. Due to the new extension of the scope of application of investment control, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy assumes at least 180 new reportable acquisitions per year. These would be in addition to the 159 cases examined by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in 2020. Furthermore, the EU cooperation mechanism will conservatively estimate that a further 140 cases will have to be examined. Overall, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy therefore expects about 500 cases next year. Consequently, 30 additional civil servants are to be recruited across departments.

On the whole, however, the new AWV shows a distrust of foreign direct investment. It is therefore likely to be of considerable importance that the application of the new AWV does not lead to an excessive restriction of free trade in order to keep Germany attractive as an investment location. Restrictions or prohibitions should therefore remain the exception and not degenerate into a political instrument.

More here:

The draft bill of the 17th Amendment Ordinance of the AWV (Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance) - a first analysis - Lexology

Honeywell's quantum computer calculates using qubits made of charged ytterbium atoms trapped in this football-sized chamber. Lasers manipulate the atoms to direct the computation.

BMW is rolling intoquantum computing, the German automaker said Wednesday, using a Honeywell quantum computer to find more efficient ways to purchase the myriad components that go into its vehicles.

The car giant has begun using Honeywell machines, first the H0 and then the newer H1, to determine which components should be purchased from which supplier at what time to ensure the lowest cost while maintaining production schedules. For example, one BMW supplier might be faster while another is cheaper. The machine will optimize the choices from a cascade of options and suboptions. Ultimately, BMW hopes this will mean nimbler manufacturing.

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"We are excited to investigate the transformative potential of quantum computing on the automotive industry and are committed to extending the limits of engineering performance," Julius Marcea, a BMW Group IT chief, said in a statement.

BMW's experiment with quantum computing is among the first real-world uses of the nascent technology. Optimization problems, like the one the carmaker is trying to solve, are among the areas quantum computers are expected to outpace ordinary machines, finding the best course of action from among a daunting array of possibilities.

BMW started evaluating quantum computing in 2018 and has a lot of ideas for where it could help, Marcea said. Quantum computers could improve battery chemistry in electric vehicles and figure out the best places to install charging stations. It could also help tackle the constellation of requirements in design and manufacturing -- everything from cost and safety to aerodynamics and durability.

At least eventually. "Our experts anticipate that it will take some more years until real quantum computers can be used for commercial benefit," he said

In the early stages, BMW will test quantum computing speed and ensure small-scale computations match results from classical machines. In about 18 to 24 months, however, quantum computers could tackle optimization problems no classical computer can handle, says Tony Uttley, Honeywell's quantum computing business president.

Quantum computers are profoundly different from classical machines. They store and process data using qubits. Qubits can store a combination of one and zero, rather than simply a one and a zero, as classical computers work. In addition, multiple qubits can be yoked together through a phenomenon called entanglement. That lets qubits encompass a multitude of possible solutions to a problem. With the right processing algorithm shepherding qubit interactions, bad solutions in effect cancel each other out, allowing good answers emerge.

Quantum computer makers are racing to build machines with more than a few dozen qubits, eventually hoping for thousands and then millions to tackle much more complex computations. They're also working to stabilize qubits so computations can run longer. A key part of that improvement is quantum computing error correction, which should help computations withstand qubit glitches.

Other businesses working with Honeywell include DHL, Merck, Accenture, JP Morgan Chase and BP.

Programming quantum computers is correspondingly different from programming classical computers, though tech companies like Microsoft, Google and IBM are working on software layers to make them more accessible.

Companies interested in quantum computing often ask themselves whether they can write their own quantum algorithms or program a quantum machine on their own, Uttley says. "The answer for almost every company out there is, 'No, I cannot,'" he said.

For now, expert middlemen like Cambridge Quantum Computing and Zapata Computing help. BMW relied on another, Entropica Labs.

Entropica is keen for better quantum computing hardware, like machines with more qubits, with better processing connections between qubits, and lower error rates for quantum computations, co-founder Ewan Munro said.

"We certainly don't yet have the large and powerful quantum computers that can run the kinds of algorithms that will give, say, exponential speedups for tasks in optimization or machine learning," compared with classical machines, he said.

Zapata CEO Christopher Savoie sees quantum computing's rise to commercial utility as inevitable at this stage. "It's no longer a matter of if, but when," he said.

Honeywell is in a race to deliver that progress, competing against companies including Silicon Quantum Computing, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Rigetti Computing, IonQ and Xanadu.

Honeywell's fastest current quantum computer, the H1, has 10 qubits at present, but in coming weeks the company plans to start stuffing in more -- a range between 12 to 20. The design has room for up to 40, and Honeywell has plans for many, many more in future generations in coming years.

"As you add additional qubits, you cross that threshold of something you can't classically compute anymore," Uttley said.

Having more qubits also is required for a crucial quantum computer technology, the development of error correction to keep calculations on track longer. The foundation for error correction is ganging together multiple physical qubits into a single, more persistent "logical" qubit.

Honeywell is on the verge of creating a logical qubit, Uttley said. "We are confident that's going to happen this year -- ideally within the first half of this year."

Read more:

BMW takes first steps into the quantum computing revolution - CNET

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Crunch numbers fast and at scale has been at the centre of computing technology. In the past few decades, a new type of computing has garnered significant interest. Quantum computers have been in development since the 1980s. They use properties of quantum physics to solve complex problems that cant be solved by classical computers.

Companies like IBM and Google have been continuously building and refining their quantum hardware. Simultaneously, several researchers have also been exploring new areas where quantum computers can deliver exponential change.

In the context of advances in quantum technologies, The Hindu caught with IBM Researchs Director Gargi Dasgupta.

Dasgupta noted that quantum computers complement traditional computing machines, and said the notion that quantum computers will take over classical computers is not true.

Quantum computers are not supreme against classical computers because of a laboratory experiment designed to essentially [and almost certainly exclusively] implement one very specific quantum sampling procedure with no practical applications, Dasgupta said.

Also Read: Keeping secrets in a quantum world and going beyond

For quantum computers to be widely used, and more importantly, have a positive impact, it is imperative to build programmable quantum computing systems that can implement a wide range of algorithms and programmes.

Having practical applications will alone help researchers use both quantum and classical systems in concert for discovery in science and to create commercial value in business.

To maximise the potential of quantum computers, the industry must solve challenges from the cryogenics, production and effects materials at very low temperatures. This is one of the reasons why IBM built its super-fridge to house Condor, Dasgupta explained.

Quantum processors require special conditions to operate, and they must be kept at near-absolute zero, like IBMs quantum chips are kept at 15mK. The deep complexity and the need for specialised cryogenics is why at least IBMs quantum computers are accessible via the cloud, and will be for the foreseeable future, Dasgupta, who is also IBMs CTO for South Asia region, noted.

Quantum computing in India

Dasgupta said that interest in quantum computing has spiked in India as IBM saw an many exceptional participants from the country at its global and virtual events. The list included academicians and professors, who all displayed great interest in quantum computing.

In a blog published last year, IBM researchers noted that India gave quantum technology 80 billion rupees as part of its National Mission on Quantum technologies and Applications. They believe its a great time to be doing quantum physics since the government and people are serious as well as excited about it.

Also Read: IBM plans to build a 1121 qubit system. What does this technology mean?

Quantum computing is expanding to multiple industries such as banking, capital markets, insurance, automotive, aerospace, and energy.

In years to come, the breadth and depth of the industries leveraging quantum will continue to grow, Dasgupta noted.

Industries that depend on advances in materials science will start to investigate quantum computing. For instance, Mitsubishi and ExxonMobil are using quantum technology to develop more accurate chemistry simulation techniques in energy technologies.

Additionally, Dasgupta said carmaker Daimler is working with IBM scientists to explore how quantum computing can be used to advance the next generation of EV batteries.

Exponential problems, like those found in molecular simulation in chemistry, and optimisation in finance, as well as machine learning continue to remain intractable for classical computers.

Quantum-safe cryptography

As researchers make advancement into quantum computers, some cryptocurrency enthusiasts fear that quantum computers can break security encryption. To mitigate risks associated with cryptography services, Quantum-safe cryptography was introduced.

For instance, IBM offers Quantum Risk Assessment, which it claims as the worlds first quantum computing safe enterprise class tape. It also uses Lattice-based cryptography to hide data inside complex algebraic structures called lattices. Difficult math problems are useful for cryptographers as they can use the intractability to protect information, surpassing quantum computers cracking techniques.

According to Dasgupta, even the National Institute of Standards and Technologys (NIST) latest list for quantum-safe cryptography standards include several candidates based on lattice cryptography.

Also Read: Google to use quantum computing to develop new medicines

Besides, Lattice-based cryptography is the core for another encryption technology called Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). This could make it possible to perform calculations on data without ever seeing sensitive data or exposing it to hackers.

Enterprises from banks to insurers can safely outsource the task of running predictions to an untrusted environment without the risk of leaking sensitive data, Dasgupta said.

Last year, IBM said it will unveil 1121-qubit quantum computer by 2023. Qubit is the basic unit of a quantum computer. Prior to the launch, IBM will release the 433-qubit Osprey processor. It will also debut 121-qubit Eagle chip to reduce qubits errors and scale the number of qubits needed to reach Quantum Advantage.

The 1,121-qubit Condor chip, is the inflection point for lower-noise qubits. By 2023, its physically smaller qubits, with on-chip isolators and signal amplifiers and multiple nodes, will have scaled to deliver the capability of Quantum Advantage, Dasgupta said.

More:

IBMs top executive says, quantum computers will never reign supreme over classical ones - The Hindu

For most of us, the refrigerator is where we keep our dairy, meat and vegetables. For Ilana Wisby, CEO at Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), refrigeration means something else entirely.

Her company, operator of the UKs only commercially available quantum computer, has recently announced a new partnership with Oxford Instruments Nanoscience, a manufacturer of ultra-low temperature refrigerators.

As per the agreement, OQC will be the first to deploy the new Proteox cryo-refrigerator, which reaches temperatures as low as 5-8 millikelvin (circa -273 C/-460 F), significantly colder than outer space.

According to Wisby, the arrival of powerful new refrigerators will allow organizations like hers to take quantum computing to new heights, by improving the "quality" of superconducting quantum bits (qubits).

Quantum effects only happen in really low-energy environments, and energy is temperature. Ultimately, we need to be at incredibly low temperatures, because were working at single-digit electron levels, she explained

A qubit is an electronic circuit made from aluminum, built with a piece of silicon, which we cool down until it becomes superconducting and then further until single electron effects are happening.

The colder the system the less noise and mess there is, she told TechRadar Pro, because all the other junk is frozen out. With the Proteox, then, OQC hopes to be able to scale up the architecture of its quantum machine in a significant way.

The meaning of quantum computing, let alone its significance, can be difficult to grasp without a background in physics. At the end of our conversation, Wisby herself told us she had found it difficult to balance scientific integrity with the need to communicate the concepts.

But, in short, quantum computers approach problem solving in an entirely different way to classical machines, making use of certain symmetries to speed up processing and allow for far greater scale.

Quantum computers exploit a number of principles that define how the world works at an atomic level. Superposition, for example, is a principle whereby something can be in two positions at once, like a coin thats both a head and a tail, said Wisby.

Ultimately, that can happen with information as well. We are therefore no longer limited to just ones and zeros, but can have many versions of numbers in between, superimposed.

Instead of running calculation after calculation in a linear fashion, quantum machines can run them in parallel, optimizing for many more variables - and doing so extremely quickly.

Advances in the field, which is really still only in its nascent stages, are expected to have a major impact on areas such as drug discovery, logistics, finance, cybersecurity and almost any other market that needs to process massive volumes of information.

Quantum computers in operation today, however, can not yet consistently outperform classical supercomputers. There are also very few quantum computing resources available for businesses to utilize; OQC has only a small pool of rivals worldwide in this regard.

The most famous milestone held aloft as a marker of progress is that of quantum supremacy, the point at which quantum computers are able to solve problems that would take classical machines an infeasible amount of time.

In October 2019, Google announced it was the first company to reach this landmark, performing a task with its Sycamore prototype in 200 seconds that would take another machine 10,000 years.

But the claim was very publicly contested by IBM, which dialled up its Summit supercomputer (previously the worlds fastest) to prove it was capable of processing the same workload in roughly two and a half days.

Although the quantum supremacy landmark remains disputed, and quantum computers have not yet been responsible for any major scientific discoveries, Wisby is bullish about the industrys near-term prospects.

Were not there yet, but we will be very soon. Were at a tipping point after which we should start to see discoveries and applications that were fundamentally impossible before, realistically in the next three years.

In pharma, that might mean understanding specific molecules, even better understanding water. We hope to see customers working on new drugs that have been enabled by a quantum computer, at least partially, in the not too distant future.

The challenge facing organizations working to push quantum computing to the next level is balancing quality, scale and control. Currently, as quantum systems are scaled and an appropriate level of control asserted, the quality decreases and information is lost.

Achieving all these things in parallel is whats going to unlock a quantum-enabled future, says Wisby.

There is work to be done, in other words, before quantum fulfils its potential. But steps forward in the ability to fabricate superconducting devices at scale and developments in areas such as refrigeration are setting the stage.

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A fridge thats colder than outer space could take quantum computing to new heights - TechRadar

NTT Research has announced a collaboration with Caltech to develop the worlds fastest Coherent Ising Machine (CIM). This relates to a quantum-oriented computing approach that uses special-purpose processors to solve extremely complex combinatorial optimization problems. CIMs are advanced devices that constitute a promising approach to solving optimization problems by mapping them to ground state searches. The primary application of the computing method is drug discovery. Developing new drugs is of importance, including the current fight against COVID-19. Drug discovery is a commonly cited combinatorial optimization problem. The search for effective drugs involves an enormous number of potential matches between medically appropriate molecules and target proteins that are responsible for a specific disease. Conventional computers are used to replicate chemical interactions in the medical space and other areas of life and chemical sciences. To really move forwards, quantum technology is required to take developments beyond trial and error to rapidly tackle the sheer volume of total possible combinations. Other applications of the technology include: Logistics One classic problem is that of the traveling salesman (a common logic problem) identifying the shortest possible route that visits each of n number of cities, while returning to the city of origin. This problem and its variants appear in contemporary form in logistical challenges, such as daily automotive traffic patterns. The advantage of using a quantum information system is speed. Machine Learning A CIM is also a good match for some types of machine learning, including image and speech recognition. Artificial neural networks learn by iteratively processing examples containing known inputs and results. CIMs can speed up the training and improve upon the accuracy of existing neural networks. The development of the new computer system has been pioneered by Kazuhiro Gomi, CEO of NTT Research, and Dr. Yoshihisa Yamamoto, Director of NTT Researchs Physics & Informatics (PHI) Lab, who is overseeing this research. This is a step forwards in CIM optimization problems by uniting perspectives from statistics, computer science, statistical physics and quantum optics.

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article image Caltech and NTT developing the world's fastest quantum computer - Digital Journal

Deploying the more sustainable and resilient electric grid of the future requiresa sophisticatedusage of data. This begins with sensorsand measurement infrastructurecollecting a wide range of grid-relevant data, butalsoincludes various forms of analytics to usethedata tosolvea wide range ofgrid problems.Many advanced analytics methodsalreadyarebeing used,includingartificial intelligence and machine learning.Now,forward-looking electric utilities are exploringthe next step in enhancing these analytics,by understandinghow emerging computing technologies can be leveraged to provide higher levels of service. Among the mostcompellingexamples of this is the potential use of quantum computing for grid purposes.

This rapid evolution is happening in part toaccommodate additional distributed energy resources (DERs)on the grid, including the solarphotovoltaic (PV)and energy storage that helptoreduce emissions bylimitingthe need for fossil-fuel power plants. High levels of DER penetration not only necessitate reform in traditional grid planning and operation, but also facilitate unprecedented grid modernization to accommodate new types of loads (for example,electric vehicles)andbidirectional power transfer.

Electric utilities like Commonwealth Edison(ComEd)are in a unique position to develop and deploy grid-optimizing technologies to meet the demands of evolving systems and build a scalable model for the grid of the future.Serving over 4 million customers in northern Illinois and Chicago,Illinois, U.S.,ComEd ispartnering with leading academic institutionsincluding the University of Denver and the University of Chicago andleveraging its position as one of the largest electric utilities in theU.S.to explorequantumcomputing applications forgrid purposes.

What Is Quantum Computing?

The major difference between classical and quantum computers is in the way they process information.Whereas classical computing bits are either 0 or 1, quantum bits (qubits) can be both 0 and 1 at the same timethrougha unique quantum property called superposition. For example, an electron can be used as a qubit because it can simultaneously occupy its ground state (0) and its excited state (1).

Moreover, this superposition phenomenon scales exponentially. For example, two qubitscanoccupy four statessimultaneously: 00, 01, 10 and 11. More generally, N qubits can represent an exponential number of states (2N) at once, enabling a quantum computer to process all these states rapidly.This exponential advantageis the salient feature of quantum computers, enabling faster calculations in specific applications,such as factoringlargenumbers and searching datasets.

ComEd cohosted a workshop that brought together a dozen leaders in quantum computing and power systems to help determine the future applications of quantum computing for the grid.

A superconducting quantum computer from Professor David Schuster's laboratory at UChicago that can help drive the field forward. Credit: Yongshan Ding.

The data from these advanced sensors can be leveraged from quantum computing to provide higher levels of grid resiliency and support DER integration.

QuantumComputingApplications

To identify potential applications forquantumcomputing in the grid of the future,ComEdcohosted a workshop on Feb.27, 2020,with researchers from the University of Chicago,the University of Denverand Argonne NationalLaboratory. The purpose of theworkshop was to explore the potential benefitsquantumcomputingcouldbring to power systemsand collaborate on developing technologies that couldbe demonstrated to provide this value.

Recognizing these two fields historicallyhavenot been in close contact, the workshop began with two tutorial sessions, one forpowersystems and another forquantumcomputing, to provide backgroundonthe stateoftheart of the respective fields as well as the emerging challengesof each. Following the tutorial sessions, a technical discussionincludedbrainstormingpotential applications of existingquantumcomputing algorithms on large-scale power system problems requiring heavy computational resources.Followingare severalpotential power systemsapplicationsofquantum computingin deployingthe grid of the future.

Unit Commitment

Optimal system schedulingin particular,unit commitment(UC)is one of the most computationally intensive problems in power systems. UCis a nonlinear, nonconvexoptimizationproblem with a multitude of binary and continuous variables. There have been extensive and continuous efforts to improve the solutiontothis problem, from both optimality and execution time points of view. Recent advances in power systems, such astheintegration of variable renewable energy resources andagrowing number of customer-ownedgeneration units, add another level of difficulty to this problem and make it even harder to solve.

Quantum optimization may solve the UC problem fasterthancurrent models used in classical computers. Thequantumapproximateoptimizationalgorithm(QAOA),analgorithm for quantum computers designed to solve complex combinatorial problems,may be wellsuited for the UC problem. While QAOA was designed for discrete combinatorial optimization, several interesting research directions could relaxthe algorithmto be compatible with mixed-integer programming tasksused inUC.

Contingency Analysis

Another potentialapplicationinvolvescontingency analysis. Traditional power system operators tend to assess system reliability byanalyzingN-1 contingency, to ensure thesystemcan maintainadequatepower flowduringone-at-a-time equipment outages. Systemoperators usually run this study after obtaining a state estimator solution todetermine whethersystem status is still within the acceptable operating condition.

Advanced computing capabilities like quantum computing can support the integration of clean energy generation like this deployment as part of the Bronzeville Community Microgrid.

The high-riskN-k contingencyhas beenintroduced toobtainbetter situational awareness. However, the combinatorial explosion in potential scenarios greatly challenges the existing computing power. Quantum computers could helptoaddress N-k scenarios by enabling access to an exponentially expanded state space.

State Estimation

Quantumcomputingalsohas the potential to enable large-scale distribution systemhybridstate estimation with phasor measurement units (PMUs)and advanced meteringinfrastructure (AMI).Utilitiesalreadyhave deployedthousandsofPMUsand millionsofsmart metersacross the grid that provide data toacentral management system. PMUsprovide time-synchronized three-phase voltage and current measurements at speeds up to 60 samples per second, which allow for linear state estimation at similar speeds.AMI provides voltage and energy measurementsat customer siteswith differenttimeresolutions.

As thesystem becomes more complex, the computationrequiredto usemany measurements estimating the states of apracticalnetwork increasesaccordingly. QAOA provides a promising path for state estimation withPMUsor hybrid state estimation with both PMUsand AMIata speed believed to be unachievable byclassicalcomputers. In addition, QAOA is within the computing capabilities of near-term quantum computers,called noisy intermediate-scale quantum(NISQ),now available.

AccurateForecasting

When it comes to system operation, forecasting is another issuequantumcomputing could address.The high volatility ofDERs, such assolar andwind, may disturb normal system operation and underminethesystems reliability. Accurate forecastingof variable generationwouldenablesystem operators to act proactively to avoid potential system frequency disturbances and stability concerns.

Quantumcomputing couldmake it possible to consider abroaderrange of data for forecasting (such as detailed weather projections and trends) and achieve a much more accurate forecast.The workshop identified Boltzmannas a potentially effective method to tackle this problem. In particular, thequantum Boltzmannmachine (QBM) is a model that has significantly greater representational power than traditional Boltzmannmachines. QBMsalreadyhavebeen experimentally realized on currently availablequantum computers.

AddressingUncertainties

An inherent part of modern power gridsistheuncertaintystemmingfrom various sources (such asvariable generation, component failures, customer behavior, extreme weatherandnatural disasters). Uncertainties cannot be controlled by grid operators, so the common practice is to define potential scenarios and plan for themaccordingly.However, these scenarioscanbe significantin some cases, making it extremely challenging to devise a viable plan for grid operation and asset management.

Quantum computers capabilityto solve numerous scenarios simultaneouslycould beuseful in addressing uncertainty in power systems. Quantum algorithms under development by financial firmsalsomaybe directly translatable to addressing uncertainties in power grids.

StudyingThese Applications

As part of thebroader collaboration,the University of Denver teamhas beenawarded a grant to study some of theapplicationsof quantum computing in power grids.Awarded by theColorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade,the grantaimstoexplorequantum computing-enhanced security and sustainability for next-generation smart grids. In particular, the team will investigate the quantum solution of the power flow problem as the most fundamentalcomputationalanalysis in power systems.

The workshop also identified that practical applications of quantum computing may soon be possible thanks to the development of quantum hardware.In 2019,Googleconducted aquantum supremacy experimentby running asimple program on a small quantum computer in secondsthatwould have taken days on the worlds largest supercomputer. IBM recently released a technology roadmapin whichmachineswilldoublein sizeoverthe next few years, with a target of over 1000 quantum bitsby2023whichlikelywould belarge enough for many of thepotentialpower gridapplications.

A Quantum Leap

The 2020 workshopthat ComEd,theUniversity of Chicago andtheUniversity of Denver engaged inhas only scratched the surface ofquantumcomputingas a new paradigm to solve complex energy system issues. However, this first step presents a path toward understanding the capabilities ofquantumcomputing and the role it can play in optimizing energy systems.That path toward understanding is best taken together, as academics and engineers,government and institutions,andutilitiescollaborate to share knowledge to build theelectricgrid of the future.

ComEdand the two universities have sustained a bimonthlycollaboration since the workshopto explorepower systems applications of quantum computing.Some preliminary results on quantum computing approaches to theUCproblem were presentedbytheUniversity of Chicago in the IEEE 2020 Quantum Week.As this collaboration develops, it becomes increasingly likely the next generation of grid technologies will engage the quantum possibilities of ones, zeros and everything in between.

Honghao Zheng(honghao.zheng@comed.com)isaprincipalquantitativeengineer insmart grid emerging technology atCommonwealthEdison(ComEd),where he supportsnew technology ideation, industrialresearch and development,and complex project execution. Prior to ComEd,heworkedasatechnical leadof Spectrum PowerOperator Training Simulator and TransmissionNetwork Applicationsmodulesfor Siemens DG SWS.ZhengreceivedhisPh.D. inelectricalengineering fromtheUniversity ofWisconsin-Madison in 2015.

Ryan Burg(ryan.s.burg@comed.com)is aprincipalbusinessanalyst insmartgridprograms at ComEd,where he supports academic partnerships. He previously taught sustainable management and business ethics at Bucknell, HSE and Georgetown Universities.Burgholds a joint Ph.D.in sociology and business ethics from the Wharton School of Businessof the University of Pennsylvania.

AleksiPaaso(esa.paaso@comed.com)is director ofdistributionplanning,smartgridandinnovation at ComEd, where he is responsible for distribution planning activities, distributed energy resource (DER) interconnection, andsmart grid strategy and project execution. He is a senior member ofthe IEEE and technical co-chair for the 2020 IEEE PES Transmission & Distribution Conference and Exposition. He holds a Ph.D.in electrical engineering from the University of Kentucky.

RozhinEskandarpour(Rozhin.Eskandarpour@du.edu)is aseniorresearchassociateintheelectrical andcomputerengineeringdepartment at the University of Denver. Her expertise spans the areas ofquantumcomputing andartificialintelligenceapplications in enhancingpowersystemresilience.Shealsois the CEO and founder of Resilient Entanglement LLC, a Colorado-based R&D company focusing on quantumgrid.She is a senior member of the IEEE society. Rozhin holds a Ph.D. degree inelectrical and computer engineering from the University of Denver.

AminKhodaei(Amin.Khodaei@du.edu)isa professor ofelectrical andcomputerengineering at the University of Denver andthe founder of PLUG LLC, an energy consulting firm. He holds a Ph.D.degree inelectricalengineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Dr.Khodaeihas authored more than 170 technical articles on various topics in power systems, including the design of the grid of the future in the era of distributed resources.

Pranav Gokhale(pranavgokhale@uchicago.edu)iscofounder and CEO ofSuper.tech, a quantum software start-up. He recently defended his Ph.D.in computer science fromtheUniversity ofChicago(UChicago), where he focused on bridging the gap from near-term quantum hardware to practical applications.Gokhales Ph.D.research led to over a dozen publications, three best paper awards and two patent applications. Prior toUChicago,hestudied computer science and physics at Princeton University.

Frederic T.Chong(chong@cs.uchicago.edu)is the Seymour Goodman Professor in thedepartment ofcomputerscience at the University of Chicago. Healsoisleadprincipalinvestigator for the Enabling Practical-scale Quantum Computing(EPiQC) project, a National Science Foundation (NSF)Expedition in Computing. Chong received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1996. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, the Intel Outstanding Researcher Award andninebest paper awards.

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A Quantum Leap Is Coming: Ones, Zeros And Everything In Between - Transmission & Distribution World

The Internet of Things (IoT) is actively shaping both the industrial and consumer worlds, and by 2023, consumers, companies, and governments will install 40 billion IoT devices globally.

Smart tech finds its way to every business and consumer domain there isfrom retail to healthcare, from finances to logisticsand a missed opportunity strategically employed by a competitor can easily qualify as a long-term failure for companies who dont innovate.

Moreover, the 2020s challenges just confirmed the need to secure all four components of the IoT Model: Sensors, Networks (Communications), Analytics (Cloud), and Applications.

One of the top candidates to help in securing IoT is Quantum Computing, while the idea of convergence of IoT and Quantum Computing is not a new topic, it was discussed in many works of literature and covered by various researchers, but nothing is close to practical applications so far. Quantum Computing is not ready yet, it is years away from deployment on a commercial scale.

To understand the complexity of this kind of convergence, first, you need to recognize the security issues of IoT, second, comprehend the complicated nature of Quantum Computing.

IoT systems diverse security issues include:

Classical computing relies, at its ultimate level, on principles expressed by a branch of math called Boolean algebra. Data must be processed in an exclusive binary state at any point in time or bits. While the time that each transistor or capacitor need be either in 0 or 1 before switching states is now measurable in billionths of a second, there is still a limit as to how quickly these devices can be made to switch state. As we progress to smaller and faster circuits, we begin to reach the physical limits of materials and the threshold for classical laws of physics to apply. Beyond this, the quantum world takes over.

In a quantum computer, several elemental particles such as electrons or photons can be used with either their charge or polarization acting as a representation of 0 and/or 1. Each of these particles is known as a quantum bit, or qubit, the nature and behavior of these particles form the basis of quantum computing.

The two most relevant aspects of quantum physics are the principles of superposition and entanglement.

Taken together, quantum superposition and entanglement create an enormously enhanced computing power. Where a 2-bit register in an ordinary computer can store only one of four binary configurations (00, 01, 10, or 11) at any given time, a 2-qubit register in a quantum computer can store all four numbers simultaneously, because each qubit represents two values. If more qubits are added, the increased capacity is expanded exponentially.

One of the most exciting avenues that researchers, armed with qubits, are exploring, is communications security.

Quantum security leads us to the concept ofquantum cryptographywhich uses physics to develop a cryptosystem completely secure against being compromised without the knowledge of the sender or the receiver of the messages.

Essentially, quantum cryptography is based on the usage of individual particles/waves of light (photon) and their intrinsic quantum properties to develop an unbreakable cryptosystem (because it is impossible to measure the quantum state of any system without disturbing that system).

Quantum cryptography uses photons to transmit a key. Once the key is transmitted, coding, and encoding using the normal secret-key method can take place. But how does a photon become a key? How do you attach information to a photon's spin?

This is where binary code comes into play. Each type of a photon's spin represents one piece of information -- usually a 1 or a 0, for binary code. This code uses strings of 1s and 0s to create a coherent message. For example, 11100100110 could correspond with h-e-l-l-o. So a binary code can be assigned to each photon -- for example, a photon that has a vertical spin ( | ) can be assigned a 1.

Regular, non-quantum encryption can work in a variety of ways but, generally, a message is scrambled and can only be unscrambled using a secret key. The trick is to make sure that whomever youre trying to hide your communication from doesnt get their hands on your secret key. But such encryption techniques have their vulnerabilities. Certain products called weak keys happen to be easier to factor than others. Also, Moores Law continually ups the processing power of our computers. Even more importantly, mathematicians are constantly developing new algorithms that allow for easier factorization of the secret key.

Quantum cryptography avoids all these issues. Here, the key is encrypted into a series of photons that get passed between two parties trying to share secret information. Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle dictates that an adversary cant look at these photons without changing or destroying them.

With its capabilities, quantum computing can help address the challenges and issues that hamper the growth of IoT. Some of these capabilities are:

Quantum computing is still in its development stage with tech giants such as IBM, Google, and Microsoft putting in resources to build powerful quantum computers. While they were able to build machines containing more and more qubits, for example, Google announced in 2019 they achieved Quantum Supremacy, the challenge is to get these qubits to operate smoothly and with less error. But with the technology being very promising, continuous research and development are expected until such time that it reaches widespread practical applications for both consumers and businesses.

IoT is expanding as we depend on our digital devices more every day. Furthermore, WFH (Work From Home) concept resulted from COVID-19 lockdowns accelerated the deployment of many IoT devices and shorten the learning curves of using such devices. When IoT converges with Quantum Computing under Quantum IoT or QIoT, that will push other technologies to use Quantum Computing and add Quantum or Q to their products and services labels, we will see more adoption of Quantum hardware and software applications in addition to Quantum services like QSaaS, QIaaS, and QPaaS as parts of Quantum Cloud and QAI (Quantum Artificial Intelligence) to mention few examples.

A version of this article first appeared onIEEE-IoT.

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The Convergence of Internet of Things and Quantum Computing - BBN Times

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 28, 2021 NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT, announced a collaboration to develop a high-speed Coherent Ising Machine (CIM). The NTT Research Physics & Informatics (PHI) Lab will be paired with Caltechs Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science with the goal of developing and demonstrating the worlds fastest CIM. The principal investigator at Caltech for this four-and-a-half-year joint project is Kerry Vahala, the Jenkins Professor of Information Science and Technology and Applied Physics and Executive Officer for the department of Applied Physics and Materials Science. Professor Vahala has pioneered the use of nonlinear optics in high-Q optical micro-resonators. Leading this effort at NTT Research is PHI Lab Research Scientist, Dr. Myoung-Gyun Suh, an expert in on-chip optical sources and their application to precision measurements.

A CIM is a network of optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) programmed to solve problems that have been mapped to an Ising model, which is a mathematical abstraction of magnetic systems composed of competitively interacting spins, or angular momentums of fundamental particles. The CIM is particularly suited to combinatorial optimization problems that are beyond the capabilities of current computer processors to solve. NTT Research and Caltech will jointly develop a high-speed, miniature CIM, consisting of an on-chip 100 GHz pulsed pump laser source and on-chip parametric oscillator device.

We are delighted at the prospect of working with Professor Vahala to develop an extremely small and high-speed CIM, said NTT Research PHI Lab Director, Yoshihisa Yamamoto. This work will advance our understanding of the CIMs capabilities, map well with ongoing and related work with other institutions, provide new demonstrations of this awesomely powerful new information system and, we hope, set standards for the CIMs speed and size.

The agreement identifies research subjects and project milestones between 2020 and 2025. It anticipates that the Vahala group will develop the pump laser at Caltech, while collaborating with Dr. Suh and his team at NTT Research, who will be focused on the OPO. Professor Vahala and Caltech Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science are known for their precision optical work at the microchip level. Caltech was recently recognized for its contribution to the 2-Photon Optical Clock Collaboration, a multi-institution project that won the OSAs 2020 Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award.

The NTT Research PHI Lab has now reached ten joint research projects as part of its long-range goal to radically redesign artificial computers, both classical and quantum. To advance that goal, the PHI Lab has established joint research agreements with seven universities, one government agency and quantum computing software company. This is the second joint research agreement with Caltech. The other institutions of higher education are Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Swinburne University of Technology, the University of Michigan and the University of Notre Dame. The government entity is NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, and the private company is 1QBit. In addition to its PHI Lab, NTT Research has two other divisions: its Cryptography & Information Security (CIS) Lab, and Medical & Health Informatics (MEI) Lab.

About NTT Research

NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley startup to conduct basic research and advance technologies that promote positive change for humankind. Currently, three labs are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab. The organization aims to upgrade reality in three areas: 1) quantum information, neuro-science and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; and 3) medical and health informatics. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion.

Source: NTT Research

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NTT Research Collaboration with Caltech to Develop World's Fastest Coherent Ising Machine - HPCwire