HAMPTON, N.H. – IBM’s new Q Network announced Thursday is the latest in Big Blue’s (NYSE: IBM) continuing effort to make incremental advancements in its body of knowledge around quantum computing, emphasizing the overall market sits at the transition from quantum science to quantum readiness, with the ability to gain quantum advantage, or full commercial usefulness superior to what is available with current classical computing, still three to seven years away.

The heart of IBM’s messaging rests on two points:

1. IBM has 20-qubit quantum computers available now for enterprises and academic institutions to begin working with to develop the people skills and technology tools necessary for the quantum era.
2. IBM cannot adequately address all aspects of developing the market drivers necessary for quantum advantage and actively recruit ecosystem participants to accelerate the time to readiness for quantum computing. The IBM Q Network sits at the heart of the company’s efforts to establish collaborative partnerships with the academic, scientific and large enterprise communities.

VIDEO: You can watch a video overview about the Q network.

IBM nears commercialization, with advancements happening faster than originally anticipated

IBM openly admitted in its recent analyst briefing that it has exceeded its own expectations in terms of how rapidly the quantum computing technology architecture has hardened into a useful computing platform. The announcement revolved around showcasing the availability of 20-qubit computing instances delivered via the cloud with the expectations of reaching a 50-qubit instance within the next few years.

The 20-qubit offering will be made available to Q Network hubs, partners and members, while the earlier 5- and 16-qubit platforms will still be made available to individuals as essentially free test beds for trialing and experimentation.

Inside IBM’s quantum network

While the briefing was somewhat obtuse and decidedly technical in terms of the moves from quantum science or theory into viable computing platforms, what came through very clearly is the confidence IBM has that it will have quantum ready computing available for the market sooner than it had anticipated two years ago when first bringing its quantum technologies out of the research labs and into the commercial domains.

Integral to the accelerated commercialization is the propagation of the IBM QISKit (“Quiz Kit”), which curates IBM’s body of tools, libraries and simulators for application development. Not available to the general public, this collection of IP will be an open-sourced curation of the IBM Q Network’s contributions to the development of the broad array of utilities and tools needed for quantum advantage to become a reality.

IBM expects quantum commercialization to be an ecosystem play

Numerous industry pundits and business analysts talk about the shifts in economic activity from product companies to ecosystem platform companies triggered by the lower costs associated with infrastructure delivered “as a Service,” reducing barriers to entry for small-scale participants. IBM understands a large skills gap exists worldwide when it comes to quantum computing. From the complexities of the hardware instances still in the
prototype phases down to the programming approaches that are different from programming classical computers, the world lacks talent versed in quantum technology.

To accelerate the commercialization, IBM recognizes the need for open collaboration and IP sharing to grow the collective knowledge base around how to leverage quantum computing for commercial benefit, and this sits at the heart of the announcement of the IBM Q Network.

The Q Network consists of three distinct participation classifications with still evolving contractual arrangements around entity participation. At the core of the arrangements are collaboration and the sharing of any knowledge gains across the IBM Q Network. In short, the Q Network calls for the collective sharing of IP knowledge for the benefit of the broader ecosystem.

The three levels and key characteristics of the Q Network are as follows:

  • Hubs: Q Network Hubs have regional centers for quantum computing, education, research, development and commercialization. They deploy a hub-and-spoke model of engagement for rapid commercialization with regional localization taken into consideration by the hub sponsor. In most cases, hub sponsors flow from academia where tomorrow’s quantum programmers can begin learning the nuances of the quantum infrastructure and be graduated into the workforce as quantum readiness begins gaining hold in leading industries seeking to exploit the technology.
  • Partners: Typically, Q Network partners consist of leading enterprises gaining first-mover advantage on how to exploit quantum computing for immediate commercial benefit. Industries ripe for this participation include automation, energy, healthcare and chemical materials. Partners also usually work with local academic entities conducting pure research and teaching applied quantum courses with academia.
  • Members: Members are enterprises and academic institutions beginning to familiarize themselves with
    quantum technologies. These participants can be defined as being in the early proof-of-concept testing
    phase, working with quantum computing to begin gaining general quantum ready.

Next: Commercial terms are a work in progress

(C) TBR