Quantum technology with the potential to provide more than a million-fold increase in computing power, promises to transform many domains of information processing, including computing and communications. This has drawn the attention of many potential adopters looking for more computational power than provided by today’s supercomputers. According to IDC IT Infrastructure-Future of Digital Infrastructure Study conducted in January 2022, 84% of 374 organizations expect to integrate quantum commuting technologies to enhance current compute intensive capabilities. In the domain of computing the technology will provide compute power necessary to solve complex problems that are beyond the capability of classical computers. For communications, quantum technology will enable safe communications in the face of quantum computing.
The activity and investment in quantum technologies continues to increase, with many startup companies forming, governments announcing new investments and strategic initiatives, and large technology vendors such as IBM defining quantum technology roadmaps with increased capabilities (a 1,121-qubit machine expected this year from IBM) available on an annual basis, including the discovery of new use cases. This is matched by the efforts of the hyperscale cloud providers to advance the technology, build their own quantum machines and provide early-to-market services using simulations allowing potential users to explore new ways to benefit from the technology.
Today, no large-scale commercial quantum computer or network exists, however the technology continues to advance, and we can expect in the next several years we will begin to see commercial applications take root in the market. At the Open Compute Project (OCP), the Future Technologies Initiative (FTI) is intended to bring the academic community together into a formal workstream with the researchers working in advanced technology labs of OCP member companies to explore forward-looking ideas and technologies three-to-five years into the future. The goal is to have FTI explore and define work efforts that can be solved by the OCP Community and once the problem parameters and potential solutions are understood there is a transition of the FTI work effort into an OCP Project. In effect FTI is a forward-looking funnel for the OCP Community
Understanding that quantum technology is expected to impact the computational and communications market within the next 5 years, the OCP FTI assembled a program committee of leading experts and has organized a breakout session on October 18th at OCP Global Summit 2023. This breakout session will bring together industry experts and leading quantum hardware and software vendors to discuss the importance and status of quantum computing and communications, delve into the challenges, and debate the potential impact and when this might occur. The breakout session will lead off with a market overview by IDC analyst Heather West, Ph.D., followed by an overview of several quantum hardware technologies, then a review of software technologies and tools to help adopters develop use cases, and review of several use cases already in development.
Please join us for this breakout session, and start your journey of understanding quantum technology and what strategies you need to be ready for this technology transition.