D-Wave Released Quantum Computing Roadmap
Peeling what back D-Wave really announced, they are going down, two Quantum Computing avenues concurrently. Since the Quantum Computing space has not been solidified in regard to a clear standard. For me it makes sense to try both paths at this early point in Quantum.
D-Wave is a leader in the Quantum Annealing processor offerings and will now try gate-based systems (which are the more common Quantum Computing methodologies.)
What is Quantum Annealing? It involves manipulating collections of interconnected qubits. And thus far has not worked out, however, it does appear to be positioned for a class of optimization problems in Quantum Computing. Perhaps, this is why D-Wave is pivoting toward Gate-based systems?
Why is D-Wave the leader? Their leading Processor is called 'Advantage' and has 5000 qubits and 40K connections. And D-Wave will improve performance in their Cloud offering to customers this week. D-Wave continues to advance processor technology in the annealing area as 'Advantage 2' should be out late in '22 or early '23 and the Qubit count will go up to an estimated 7000 and the connections per Qubit will go up by 20 per Qubit. Thus expectations are for well increased performance!
What are gate-based systems? First, know they are also known as logic-gates or Quantum gates. Quantum logic gates are represented by unitary matrices. And allows Qubit manipulation in 3D where-as Annealing only allows 2D manipulation. Keep in mind that out of different types of qubits, including photons, ions, and electronic devices called transmons. Yeah this is some heavy stuff!
Why will D-Waves efforts in Annealing give it a leg up in gate-based systems? They are both based upon the same hardware (Josephson junction)
D-Wave Developer Tools
Ocean - https://www.dwavesys.com/solutions-and-products/ocean/
Summary - The Quantum Computing space continues with amazing advances in 2021. I am excited to see what D-Wave will bring out of their gate-based systems approach! See if other firms pivot into Annealing, a little competition helps everyone!
