Honeywell’s Quantum Computing Efforts Heating Up After Years of Quiet Research

(NextPlatform) The quantum computing effort at Honeywell appears to be heating up. Over the last several months, the company has announced a series of new developments in its trapped ion quantum computer research. Until recently, the tech giant had been rather tight-lipped about its plans in this area.
The quantum computing effort at Honeywell has been going on underneath the covers for at least five years. Its roots go back to 2014, when Honeywell was one of the participants in a program for the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) that involved research into trapped ions. Honeywell’s attraction to trapped ion technology mirrors that of IonQ, namely that these atomic level structures are totally uniform, naturally resistant to error-producing noise, and can be connected to one another in different configurations at runtime.
Uttley and his team, which is made up of about 100 physicists, engineers, and technicians, are singularly focused on designing and developing trapped-ion quantum computers for the commercial market. Although no product roadmap has been publicly offered, he expects to have its first system up and running before the end of 2019. Uttley has commented, “Our approach is to influence how quantum computing evolves and shape the opportunity for Honeywell and our customers.”