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Expectations of quantum practitioners and the QuantumPath® approach

QuEra recently published the results of a comprehensive survey[1] about the expectations of readers of the Quantum Computing Report, with 95 participants including both practitioners and researchers.

We believe that the situation reflected in the survey is very interesting and confirms some of the decisions we have been making in the more than six years we have been researching and developing QuantumPath® and its tools ecosystem.

We will now discuss the most important findings of this study and how we have addressed these issues with QuantumPath®.

 

1)    Most respondents are not paying to access a quantum computer right now, and even a smaller percentage are paying for training or algorithm development

That is why it is so important to be able to have a tool that allows working with simulators (which do not require payment for access them), and that transparently allows reusing everything done on a real quantum computer.

In addition, it is essential to have a platform that significantly reduces the learning curve for quantum developers[2], who cannot afford to have to relearn everything every time a new tool or environment comes along.

The use of simulators can be useful in training tasks and also in some types of unit tests in the development of algorithms and solutions, so their use could contribute to reduce the costs of learning and some development tasks.

 

2)    There is some frustration about how quickly quantum benefits are being reached

The problem we have been seeing over the last couple of years is that many companies have not been able to make the leap from proof-of-concept or lab algorithms to quantum systems that actually work in the real world.

This is a major change in approach, because for a quantum system to be useful to companies, it must be integrated into a hybrid system. In addition, the appropriate techniques[3] and tools[4] for professional quantum software development[5] must be supported. And of course, technologies to facilitate this integration between the quantum system and classical IT, as is the case with qSOA® [6].

 

3)    Respondents were very open to exploring alternative quantum architectures in order to gain the benefits that they seek 

The important thing in this case is that different architectural solutions can be explored and compared but always from the same environment. To achieve this, it was clear to us at QuantumPath® from the beginning that we had to offer access to multiple computers and quantum environments and also provide the necessary telemetry to be able to explore in a quantitative and evidence-based way the different quantum architectures. Furthermore, to guarantee the total portability of the developed software and a total independence for the user from the vendor’s SDK and therefore from knowing its details, requirements, and continuous evolutions, in order to apply the important principle in development of being able to write once and run everywhere. 

 

4)    Most respondents agree that their organization needs help (though the majority of them are not paying for such help at present) 

Since the beginning of our activity, we have been committed to quantum literacy and the democratisation of access to quantum knowledge. For this reason, we (in collaboration with partners such as aQuantum[7] and UCLM[8]) have produced dozens of materials, publications, webinars, books[9], [10], etc. that allow us to make available to those interested the basic concepts and tools for their organisation. 

 

5)    Respondents don’t believe that companies should be locked into a single vendor

This principle is the DNA of QuantumPath®, our agnosticism[11] is total and not only allows the same solution to be executed in different quantum computers based on gates, but also thanks to Q Agnostic QAOA® [12] it is possible to migrate directly and transparently, without touching a single line of code, a solution created in the annealing paradigm to gate-based systems.

 

6)    There is significant uncertainty about which modality will be the winner of the quantum race

We fully agree with this principle, and we believe that it is one of the main risks we must address when developing quantum software. Therefore, one of our main concerns when developing hybrid software for the real world is precisely to carry out a good risk management [13], which includes, of course, safeguarding all the developed assets[14] and, as we have done so far, we will continue to work to support the most important technological approaches and quantum computers that will enter the market. This makes it possible to quickly adapt to any change related not only to the technology but also to other collateral factors: success of a certain manufacturer, supplier failures, product costs, availability times, efficiency of access to the work queues, etc.

 

7)    There is a strong willingness to learn new development environments

In this sense, since October 2018 we have been offering the possibility of experimenting with the QuantumPath® platform by means of a Free Developer[15] license subscription, completely free of charge with which you can test multiple runtime environments under a common design umbrella. With QuantumPath® Free Developer you can not only experiment with different vendors, but also with different ways of working: those of visual [16] “no code” design and those of writing complete programs using the user’s preferred language.

 

In short, we believe that the approach we have followed in conceiving, building and deploying the QuantumPath® platform allows us to satisfy to a large extent all the expectations expressed by software quantum practitioners.

Thanks to our experience and know-how in the field of classical software engineering and professional software services for companies, we can focus on the practical development of quantum technology in the professional world, building on the results of those who are focused on hardware development and working together with them. We already know that software is a critical layer for exploiting hardware. And that is our goal: to enable the practical application of quantum hardware in business, providing the best software tools resulting from the research and development of professionals who know the world of software very well.