D-Wave Systems announced the availability of the first Advantage quantum computer, accessible via the Leap quantum cloud service, which is part of the USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center (QCC) hosted at USC’s Information Sciences Institute.
- Highlights:
- The service will provide access to the first Advantage quantum system physically located in the United States. Advantage is the first quantum computer built for business that contains the new Advantage performance update released in October 2021 and features the highly connected Pegasus topology and 5000+ qubits.
- Leap quantum cloud service users will immediately be able to access the Advantage quantum computer located at the QCC in real-time. Leap access also gives researchers, governments and enterprises access to all of the programming tools and hybrid quantum-classical resources offered through Leap.
- Additionally, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and D-Wave announced that the U.S.-based system will be available today for use in Amazon Braket, expanding the number to three different D-Wave quantum systems available to AWS users.
“Making quantum computing ubiquitous and available is one of our core areas of focus and is central to the commercialization of quantum computing,” said Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave. “This is an important moment for our U.S.-based customers who want their Leap cloud access to the newest Advantage system and quantum hybrid solver service to be in-region. The timing is especially important. Eleven years ago, together with Lockheed Martin, we installed our first quantum system at USC. Fast forward to today, delivering the most performant commercial quantum computer in the world yet again allows users to harness the power of annealing quantum computing for real-world optimization problems, all accessible real-time through our Leap quantum cloud service and in AWS’s Amazon Braket.”
In addition, D-Wave announced an update to its Constrained Quadratic Model (CQM) hybrid solver that enables organizations, for the first time, to leverage the power of quantum computation to run constrained quadratic optimization problems with continuous variables. This allows quantum developers to better represent constrained problems – such as production capacity, available funds, and asset tracking – by using continuous variables, unlocking a new class of problems and further accelerating commercialization of quantum applications. For example, with continuous variables, developers can determine optimal vehicle routes by considering capacity, travel/wait times and distances; pharmaceutical companies can more deeply analyze patient outcomes of drug trials by reviewing trial duration, time-to-patient outcomes and number of iterations; and energy operators can more effectively deliver power to customers through models that address generator output, fuel consumption and emission, and storage levels.