May 10, 2023 — The Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre (Pawsey) and Canadian quantum computing company Xanadu have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together and test the capabilities of integrating high-performance computing (HPC) and quantum computing technologies. The teams will leverage their existing hardware and algorithms expertise to improve the integration between Pawsey’s HPC and Xanadu’s quantum computing hardware and provide researchers with state-of-the-art hybrid computing capabilities.

HPC is a pillar of our society; we rely on advanced computing capabilities to tackle our most pressing challenges. Australia-based Pawsey is home to Setonix, ranked 15^th most powerful supercomputer globally and 4^th most energy efficient in the supercomputer energy efficiency ranking, the Green500. The field of quantum computing is rapidly advancing, as evidenced by the significant strides made in hardware, including Xanadu’s demonstration of quantum computational advantage. These developments lend greater credibility to the potential of quantum computing to solve problems that are currently considered intractable.

Toronto-based Xanadu is a global leader in the quantum computing industry, having built the world’s first photonic quantum computer that has achieved quantum computational advantage. The company also leads the development of PennyLane, an open-source software framework for quantum machine learning, quantum chemistry and quantum computing with the ability to run on all commercially available quantum hardware and simulators.

One of the fundamental principles shared by Pawsey and Xanadu is making cutting-edge technology accessible to research and development teams to enhance existing infrastructure and drive new discoveries. In pursuit of this goal, both teams have joined forces to leverage the power of quantum computers to complement traditional HPC methods while also improving existing algorithms and creating new ones using PennyLane.

“This exciting partnership will help to lower barriers for researchers across all industries by providing access to quantum computers and simulation environments. It provides a significant opportunity for both Pawsey and Xanadu as hybrid quantum-classical computing is an active area of research today. Our key focus for this partnership is education and integration. We want to provide Australian researchers with accessible learning opportunities in this space and fast-track our understanding of how quantum can integrate with HPC,” said Pawsey’s Chief Technology Officer Ugo Varetto.

The partnership will also involve the co-development of education and training modules to complement the tools and help researchers understand the different technologies and how they can best utilize both across their research.

Pawsey’s Executive Director, Mark Stickells, said this partnership represents another Australian first for Pawsey in the supercomputing space.

“Supercomputing has always been at the leading edge of advanced computing, science and data analysis. Extending our supercomputing expertise in an international quantum computing partnership offers tremendous benefits for researchers and strengthens our ability to support Australia’s national quantum computing industry. Pawsey is committed to providing our Australian researchers with the tools they need to solve the big problems in their field. We are confident that this new partnership with Xanadu will help us continue to deliver on this commitment,” Stickells said.

“This partnership showcases Australian and Canadian quantum leadership on the world stage in innovating and developing quantum technologies. We are excited to be working with industry leader Pawsey to further explore the capabilities of hybrid quantum-classical computation,” said Christian Weedbrook, founder and CEO of Xanadu.

Stickells added, “There are so many challenges that come with understanding quantum. We are thrilled to be partnering with a world leader in quantum computing throughout this significant discovery phase at Pawsey.”

About Pawsey

The Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre is an unincorporated joint venture between CSIRO, Curtin University, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia.  It is supported by the Western Australian and Federal Governments. Pawsey is Australia’s leading High Performance Computing facility whose primary function is to accelerate scientific research for the benefit of the nation. Our service and expertise in supercomputing, data, cloud services and visualization, enables research across a spread of domains including astronomy, life sciences, medicine, energy, resources and artificial intelligence. Data is stored close to supercomputers, allowing seamless analysis.  The adjacent, remote rendering capability allows real-time visualisation of simulations and data. We provide support to students and industry personnel, researchers, academics and scientists via seminars and symposia covering data, visualization and supercomputing, as well as training, internships and workshops covering advanced computing and research and development opportunities.

About Xanadu

Xanadu is a Canadian quantum computing company with the mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere. Founded in 2016, Xanadu has become one of the world’s leading quantum hardware and software companies. The company also leads the development of PennyLane, an open-source software library for quantum computing and application development. Visit www.xanadu.ai or follow us on Twitter @XanaduAI.

About PennyLane

PennyLane is an open-source software framework for quantum machine learning, quantum chemistry, and quantum computing with the ability to run on all hardware. To find out more, visit the PennyLane website, or check out the PennyLane demos: a gallery of hands-on quantum computing content at https://pennylane.ai/qml/demonstrations.html.

---

Source: Aditi Subramanya, Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre