The D-Wave Two quantum computer has a 512-qubit processor (pictured) that can do some calculations thousands of times faster than conventional computers. Image: D-Wave
D-Wave, the small company that sells the world’s only commercial quantum computer, has just bagged an impressive new customer: a collaboration between Google, NASA and the non-profit Universities Space Research Association.
The three organizations have joined forces to install a D-Wave Two, the computer company’s latest model, in a facility launched by the collaboration — the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. The lab will explore areas such as machine learning — making computers sort and analyse data on the basis of previous experience. This is useful for functions such as language translation, image searches and voice-command recognition. “We actually think quantum machine learning may provide the most creative problem-solving process under the known laws of physics,” says a blog post from Google describing the deal.
The Google-led collaboration is only the second customer to buy computer from D-Wave, which is based in Burnaby, Canada. Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, was the first. Lockheed purchased a D-Wave quantum computer in 2011 and installed it in a new Quantum Computation Center at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. D-Wave declines to disclose the price of their computers.
Both quantum-computing centres — the one at USC and the one at Ames — have reserved 20% of their computer time for access by outside researchers. “Judging by the third-party requests we’ve had, I’d say there should be plenty of demand — probably more than can be accommodated,” says Daniel Lidar, director of the USC centre. So far, people have mostly used these machines to explore possible applications of quantum computing and to investigate how the computer behaves, rather than to solve previously unanswered problems.
Alternative model
The D-Wave computer is unusual because it uses quantum bits (qubits) — bits that can exist in two states, on and off, simultaneously — to speed up calculations, and because it does not operate on the normal ‘gate’ model of computing, whereby logic gates are used to manipulate those bits. Instead, it is an ‘adiabatic’ computer, which reads out the ground state of its qubits to find a solution. The academic community has favoured the gate model, which has a better-developed theory behind it. But the adiabatic model has proven much easier to build, allowing D-Wave to double its processor size every year. The D-Wave Two has 512 qubits.
The Latest Bing News on:
D-Wave
- ‘The Blind Life’ host shares top accessible web productson May 19, 2022 at 6:30 am
The web is more accessible than ever, but Sam Seavey of ‘The Blind Life’ admits magnifiers and screen readers aren’t enough.
- We’ve crawled the web for 32 years: What’s changed?on May 18, 2022 at 12:51 pm
A look back at the history of search and SEO and a preview of what the next iteration of the internet means for marketers.
- How can public web data help businesses tackle the climate emergency?on May 18, 2022 at 7:56 am
It was a stark reminder of the climate crisis we currently face. Businesses are also under immense pressure from consumers and investors to take affirmative action to minimise their environmental ...
- The Great Equalizer: Blockchain Will Liberate the Digital Worldon May 17, 2022 at 6:44 pm
Western decisionmakers should embrace smart regulations and work to facilitate the incorporation of blockchain technology into everyday life.
- The New Creative Economy Within Web 3.0on May 14, 2022 at 5:11 pm
Vertigo3d \ What is Web 3.0, really? Web 3.0 is an abbreviation of the third generation of the World Wide Web. It is a term coined by Tim Berners-Lee and describes an ...
- The World Wide Web Creator Tim Berners-Lee Wants Metaverse VRon May 12, 2022 at 5:16 pm
Lee, said he expects virtual reality, and technologies based around a so-called metaverse, to be part of how people interact with his invention in the future.
- World Wide Web's Creator Wants Metaverse VRon May 12, 2022 at 5:00 pm
World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee expects virtual reality and metaverse-associated technologies to shape future online interaction.
- World wide web creator supports metaverse futureon May 11, 2022 at 10:50 pm
The creator of the World Wide Web said he expects virtual reality, and technologies based around a so-called metaverse, to be part of how people interact with his invention in the future.
- The World Wide Web’s creator wants metaverse VRon May 11, 2022 at 5:04 pm
Some experts are adamant that retooling the internet’s most important functions are essential for the future of functional democracy, while others mock them as opportunistic cash-grabs.
- 1997: Post-Bulletin newspaper opens site on World Wide Webon May 1, 2022 at 11:28 pm
The Post-Bulletin now clicks into view on computer screens , opening a new electronic service on the World Wide Web. The electronic address is: ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
D-Wave
The Latest Bing News on:
Quantum computer
- Special Operations Command trying to prepare for quantum computing threaton May 19, 2022 at 11:44 am
U.S. Special Operations Command is worried about the future threat from adversaries’ quantum technologies, and officials are trying to get out ahead of the problem. Improving intelligence fusion ...
- Topological insulator nanowires are a one-way street for quantum computingon May 19, 2022 at 1:38 am
An international group of researchers has demonstrated that wires more than 100 times thinner than a human hair can act as a quantum one-way street for electrons when made of a peculiar material known ...
- Quantum computers: understanding them and how they could change our lives foreveron May 19, 2022 at 12:20 am
stated in an interview with the Spanish newspaper 'La Vanguardia' that quantum computers are the future and have nothing to do with the computers with which we are accustomed, not even with the most ...
- IBM’s Newest Quantum Computing Roadmap Unveils Four New Quantum Processors And Future Plans For A Quantum Supercomputeron May 18, 2022 at 12:43 pm
Goodson, dives in as last week IBM updated its quantum computing roadmap for the third time since the first one was published in 2020. In this roadmap, IBM has effectively introduced new and essential ...
- Tomorrow’s quantum computers are the next major enterprise cybersecurity concernon May 18, 2022 at 12:27 pm
Along with better cryptographic techniques, more advanced cryptanalysis tools and technologies have evolved as well. One of them derives from quantum computing and threatens the very foundations of ...
- Seun Omonije took the gridiron-to-quantum-computing routeon May 18, 2022 at 8:24 am
Omonije already knew plenty of football moves before he arrived in New Haven, but Yale taught the graduating senior a new move — the quantum pivot.
- Universal Quantum Computer Market 2022 Overview with Demographic Data and Industry Growth Trends 2028on May 18, 2022 at 5:32 am
A thorough analysis of statistics about the current as well as emerging trends offers clarity regarding the Universal ...
- IonQ announces new Forte Quantum computer, Rigetti pushes back technology roadmapon May 18, 2022 at 4:10 am
Quantum computing firms IonQ and Rigetti both released their quarterly earnings this week. Both companies posted losses, but while IonQ announced its latest quantum hardware, Rigetti has pushed back ...
- Government’s next big task? Avoiding the quantum computing pitfallon May 18, 2022 at 1:32 am
David Mahdi, at Sectigo, explores what could be the government’s next big task and avoiding the quantum computing pitfall ...
- D-Wave sets up latest quantum computer in Californiaon May 12, 2022 at 10:24 am
May 12 (Reuters) - Vancouver-based quantum computing firm D-Wave Systems Inc said on Thursday it has deployed its latest quantum computer to the University of Southern California. D-Wave's most ...