Azure Quantum Focuses on Preparing Developers for Quantum Computing

(WallStreetJournal) Sara Castellanos, who covers emerging technologies for The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal in New York discusses the recent introduction of Azure Quantum by Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella. The new set of tools, which includes access to early-stage quantum-computing hardware, will be rolled out to early users in the coming months via Microsoft’s Azure cloud business. Prices haven’t been determined, the company said.
Castellanos explains that Azure Quantum focuses mainly on preparing developers for the technology, providing them a sandbox to develop algorithms and applications for quantum computers without having to rewrite their code when the hardware and algorithms get more advanced. Developers can also experiment with quantum algorithms on traditional machines.
Through Azure Quantum, customers will have access to early-stage quantum-computing hardware from Honeywell International Inc., IonQ Inc. and Quantum Circuits Inc.
Through Azure Quantum, customers will have access to early-stage quantum-computing hardware from Honeywell International Inc., IonQ Inc. and Quantum Circuits Inc.
The company, known as 1QBit, offers a way for software developers to experiment with quantum algorithms that operate on classical computers. “Quantum-inspired” algorithms are a useful midpoint between classical and quantum computing because they still speed up calculations, said Krysta Svore, general manager of quantum software at Microsoft.