The article appears to be saying that they are offering an actual quantum computer as a service, but as I recall, their previous offering was a simulation of a quantum computing environment. Yet, this same article refers to that thing as if it were a real QC. This makes me skeptical that the thing being offered here is a real quantum computer...Anyone here have any insight into whether this is legitimate?
IBM Q system in development with working 50 qubit processor
11–20 of 116 posts
Re: IBM Q system in development with working 50 qubit processor
#12Does the appearance of quantum computers mean that the effectiveness of programming languages becomes secondary and that ease-of-use/expressiveness will be the most valued trait?
Re: IBM Q system in development with working 50 qubit processor
#13At what point do we no longer trust public key cryptography (RSA)? Where's the break point?
> It is estimated that 2048-bit RSA keys could be broken on a quantum computer comprising 4,000
qubits and 100 million gates. Experts speculate that quantum computers of this size may be
available within the next 20-30 years.
https://www.entrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/WP_Quantu...
The paper is from 2009, so ~2030 to break 2048-bit RSA seems about right. If they can double the number of qubits every two years, then we should have:
100-qubit by 2020.
200-qubit by 2022
400 qubit by 2024
800 qubit by 2026
1600 qubit by 2028
3200 qubit by 2030
6400 qubit by 2032.
It's also possible the rate of progress will be slightly higher than 2x every 2 years, so doing it a few years sooner than that is not out of the question.
Also, you have to consider that once you get a quantum computer that can break 2048-RSA, you'll be able to break all the encrypted communications you've stored in the past few years, too. So you can't "switch-on" the quantum-resistant crypto in 2031 and think you're all good. You have to do it as soon as possible, especially after practical quantum computers that are capable of scaling in a scheduled way start appearing (which seems to have happened).
Plus, even if Google is super-quick to adopt quantum-resistant crypto, doesn't mean the rest of the internet will be, too. It could take a few more years for that to happen, too.
Re: IBM Q system in development with working 50 qubit processor
#14The article appears to be saying that they are offering an actual quantum computer as a service, but as I recall, their previous offering was a simulation of a quantum computing environment. Yet, this same article refers to that thing as if it were a real QC. This makes me skeptical that the thing being offered here is a real quantum computer...Anyone here have any insight into whether this is legitimate?
Nothing specific to whether this claim is legitimate, but lately IBM has a tendency to make bold claims about tech that can't be backed up (e.g. Watson).
Re: IBM Q system in development with working 50 qubit processor
#15At what point do we no longer trust public key cryptography (RSA)? Where's the break point?
If I remember correctly, it takes a quantum computer with roughly 2N qubits to break N-bit RSA. So we should be ok until thousand-qubit systems are being developed.
Increasing key lengths is a short-term workaround, but the real solution is post-quantum public key encryption, which is currently an area of active research.
Re: IBM Q system in development with working 50 qubit processor
#16Good job, IBM. You may actually be ahead of other tech companies for once, although Google seems to be breathing down your neck in this area. Others seem to be at least a generation or two behind. One other thing to note is that until recently it was believed that 50-qubit quantum computer would achieve "quantum supremacy". However, IBM itself has shown that we can simulate 56-qubits on a classical supercomputer. htt…
> You may actually be ahead of other tech companies for once IBM Research is and always has been an industrial research powerhouse. I doubt you could name a company that has contributed so much to so many different fields over the past few decades (Bell Labs is the universal exception). From [1]: "IBM Research's numerous contributions to physical and computer sciences include the Scanning Tunneling Microscope and hig…
> won a match against human champions on the Jeopardy! television quiz show.
I'm _much_ more impressed by Google's AI Go champion. And besides Watson, what has IBM Research done in the past 20 years? Personally I would have thought they'd be more involved in self-driving cars.
(Disclaimer: I interned for IBM Research 10 years ago)
Re: IBM Q system in development with working 50 qubit processor
#17Does the appearance of quantum computers mean that the effectiveness of programming languages becomes secondary and that ease-of-use/expressiveness will be the most valued trait?
No. Quantum computers are very specialized devices. They allow massive speedups for certain applications, and no benefit at all for general-purpose computing.
I expect to see a flourishing of quantum programming languages with which to write code for quantum computers, but that's a different subject.
Re: IBM Q system in development with working 50 qubit processor
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You may actually be ahead of other tech companies for once IBM Research is and always has been an industrial research powerhouse. I doubt you could name a company that has contributed so much to so many different fields over the past few decades (Bell Labs is the universal exception). From [1]: "IBM Research's numerous contributions to physical and computer sciences include the Scanning Tunneling Microscope and hig…
> won a match against human champions on the Jeopardy! television quiz show. I'm _much_ more impressed by Google's AI Go champion. And besides Watson, what has IBM Research done in the past 20 years? Personally I would have thought they'd be more involved in self-driving cars. (Disclaimer: I interned for IBM Research 10 years ago)
IBM isn't a software-only company: they do research in advanced materials and semiconductor physics, low-level computer architecture, integrated circuit testing, and so on.
When you look at the bigger picture, IBM Research has been doing amazing things.
Re: IBM Q system in development with working 50 qubit processor
#19I look forward to supercool (no pun intended) qSeries mainframes and whatever wild OSs they'll run. Right now, it looks like it's a batch processing like thing, with a single problem using the machine at any given time with long setup/teardown times.
I expect quantum computers will always run in batch mode. Storing quantum state in classical memory is impossible, so task switching would be very problematic.
Re: IBM Q system in development with working 50 qubit processor
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
> won a match against human champions on the Jeopardy! television quiz show. I'm _much_ more impressed by Google's AI Go champion. And besides Watson, what has IBM Research done in the past 20 years? Personally I would have thought they'd be more involved in self-driving cars. (Disclaimer: I interned for IBM Research 10 years ago)
IBM isn't a software-only company: they do research in advanced materials and semiconductor physics, low-level computer architecture, integrated circuit testing, and so on. When you look at the bigger picture, IBM Research has been doing amazing things.
What stands out to you in the last 20 years?