LEESBURG, Va., Nov. 2, 2020 — Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI), a technology leader in quantum-ready applications and tools, and public pure play in quantum computing, now offers simplified access to D-Wave’s new Advantage quantum computer (QC) via its industry-leading Mukai quantum software development and execution platform.

D-Wave announced that Advantage has more than doubled the qubit count over its predecessor, the 2000Q, to more than 5,000 qubits, and provides 2.5 times more connectivity between qubits. As the quantum world’s equivalent of the classical integrated circuit, a qubit can be potentially more powerful for certain high-level business applications than the integrated circuit, since it involves controlling and manipulating nature’s smallest objects — single atoms and photons, rather than electronic switches — to create on/off states that process information.

Advantage’s greater connectivity among twice the number of qubits is expected to allow the execution of larger and more complex quantum computer programs. As quantum computer makers like D-Wave continue to introduce more capable hardware, it increases the need for software that enables users to harness the greater power.

Mukai provides easy-to-use tools to access such expanded capability, enabling government agencies or businesses to solve larger-scale, mission-critical problems while reaping the benefits of increasingly more powerful computers.

“Mukai was ready to use with Advantage within 48 hours following its release, demonstrating our ability to support the latest quantum processors as quickly as they become available,” stated QCI chief technology officer, Michael Booth. “Mukai continues to support easy, direct connections to the widest selection of the world’s top quantum computers, which, in addition to D-Wave, include those offered by IonQ, IBM and Rigetti.”

Quantum Simplicity

A key advantage to using Mukai for quantum software development and execution is that users do not need to know or implement the various highly technical methods for connecting their classical environment (Intel or AMD processor-based) to various QCs. Mukai’s powerful but easy-to-use subject matter expert (SME) interface saves developers and programmers significant time, cost and resources, while vastly accelerating the development process.

Similar to how Microsoft provided the first operating system and software tools to create applications for the first PCs, Mukai has provided this for the world’s first QCs. The same high-level constrained-optimization interface Mukai offers for running applications using its state-of-the-art classical solver can also be used to test and solve problems on D-Wave’s Advantage or any other QC, but without requiring program changes or setting up individual accounts for each QC vendor.

Developers can exploit and evaluate different QPUs simply by selecting the target QC from within the Mukai interface. Mukai’s software execution layer can direct applications to run on a classical or quantum computer, or a hybrid of the two, based on user guidance.

In addition to easy connectivity and execution, Mukai also enables users to submit a constrained optimization problem to a quantum computer without having to learn deep mathematics or the various low-level technical details of the target QC. Apps that use Mukai also benefit from its optimizations that occur before getting to the level of calling the QPU.

While the simplicity in programming quantum-ready applications has long been available to Mukai users working in a classical environment, the ability to easily create and submit such problems to a cloud-based quantum computer like Advantage is new and unique to Mukai 3.0, which was released on October 8.

“Each of today’s QCs take a different approach to quantum processing, so some may be better suited to certain types of constrained-optimization problems than others,” noted Booth. “Mukai 3.0 simplified interface allows users to easily test which QC runs best for the problem they want to solve. Many users have already discovered substantial performance differences between D-Wave’s earlier 2000Q quantum computer and the new Advantage.”

Examples of real-world problems Mukai and Advantage can effectively address include reducing the impact to revenue or business operations posed by adverse environmental conditions, like hurricanes, floods, wildfires and power outages. Companies can use quantum-powered solutions to minimize such disruptive, high-impact events in real-time by helping to guide their response.

Improved optimization can also help research and design, like drug discovery, where better predicted protein folding can speed the design process and improve efficacy. Portfolio managers can potentially maximize their return on investment by better optimizing asset allocations.

As recently highlighted in a Forbes article presenting the top 10 digital transformational trends, new QC industry partnerships are spurring unprecedented growth in the field. The article highlighted the technology alliance that was formed between QCI and Splunk, a $30 billion big-data analytics company with more than 17,500 customers worldwide, including 92 of the Fortune 100. The collaboration has been initially focused on network security, dynamic logistics and scheduling—three key areas of any business that could benefit the most from quantum computing.

Going Bigger with Advantage Powered by Mukai

Mukai has been the first and only quantum software development and execution platform to deliver performance advantages with quantum-ready applications running in a classical environment. This best-in-class breakthrough in performance was highlighted in a benchmark study published earlier this year.

A new key feature of Mukai 3.0 is the ability to solve problems with a larger number of variables for constrained-optimization problems or vertices for graph problems. Since a computation can grow exponentially with problem size, increasing the number of variables processed simultaneously can be difficult, although usually of high value. For Mukai 3.0, this number has increased five-fold, from 10,000 to now more than 50,000.

The expanded capacity supports the solving of larger or more difficult real-world problems in the classical environment while maintaining Mukai’s superior performance advantage. The only practical limitation to this capability in the quantum world is the capacity of the quantum machine. The expanded capacity offered by Advantage can now take greater advantage of Mukai 3.0 for solving real-world problems.

“It can be relatively easy to process simple problems with up to a million variables, but these aren’t the kinds of problems most business users are looking to solve,” explained Booth. “While constantly improving, today’s QCs are still limited in how much they can handle simultaneously. Our development roadmap for Mukai includes helping QCs expand these capabilities, but without limiting performance or the difficulty of problems.”

The proprietary QuOIR optimization layer of the Mukai quantum software platform makes it easy to leverage its superior performance in solving real-world constrained-optimization problems by automatically calculating a balance between obeying constraints and finding an optimal solution.

Developers and organizations can try Mukai for free and discover firsthand how they can migrate their existing applications to quantum-ready solutions and realize superior performance in solving real-world problems—even when running their quantum-ready applications on classical computers.

About Quantum Computing Inc.

Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI) is focused on developing novel applications and solutions utilizing quantum and quantum-ready computing techniques to solve difficult problems in various industries. The company is leveraging its team of experts in finance, computing, security, mathematics and physics to develop commercial applications for industries and government agencies that will need quantum computing power to solve their most challenging problems. For more information about QCI, visit www.quantumcomputinginc.com.

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Source: QCI