German companies will have easier access to quantum computing in the future.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
Munich Germany’s industry will soon have access to the latest quantum technology. Starting next year, companies will be able to access quantum applications via the cloud. “We want to show companies what is already possible today with quantum computing,” said Markus Pflitsch, head and co-founder of the start-up QMWare, the Handelsblatt.
As it became known at the beginning of the week, the Munich company is part of a consortium that has now been commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Economics to set up a quantum cloud solution for companies. The hardware and software for the project come from QMWare.
Quantum computers should work with so-called qubits. The arithmetic units can not only represent zero or one like the bits of conventional computers, but also any values in between. This makes unimaginable numbers of calculations possible in a short time.
>>Read here: Quantum computing is rapidly accelerating all processes
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The technology is being researched worldwide. The quantum computers should one day do tasks that today’s supercomputers fail to do: find medicines, break cryptographic keys and solve logistical problems. However, they do not yet exist for daily use. However, it is possible to simulate how they work – and that is exactly what the new cloud solution offers.
According to the partners, the project is scheduled to run for three years. During this period, companies will have access to the quantum cloud to develop initial solutions for industrial applications on the platform. The federal government is reportedly supporting the project with a low to mid double-digit million amount. The partners did not name a sum.
Ionos provides computing power
The cloud specialist Ionos, a subsidiary of the telecommunications group United Internet, is in charge of the project. The company provides its data centers for the quantum cloud. Two other institutions are also involved: the University of Stuttgart through its Institute for Architecture of Application Systems and the Fraunhofer Institute Focus, which researches digital networking and its effects on society, business and technology.
With QMWare, customers can already fall back on such computing power. The company operates classic high-performance computers with virtual quantum processors in Vienna. With the new offer, the industry has a larger selection of software applications, explained QMWare boss Pflitsch.
The solution can also be quickly scaled by the data center operator Ionos. “We hope to penetrate the market more quickly,” says the entrepreneur.
Quantum computing is considered the key technology of the future. The federal government is therefore funding numerous projects in this field. According to the consortium, it initially expects the greatest interest in branches of industry in which optimization, simulation or machine learning are particularly important, such as in telecommunications, logistics, finance, automotive and energy industries.
This involves large projects, emphasized Pflitsch. The project is therefore definitely interesting, at least for the Dax companies. You don’t have to invest in the technology yourself, you only pay for the computing power in the cloud.
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