Microsoft expands Azure Quantum Cloud services

(NewStack.io) Microsoft’s cloud-based quantum computing business is expanding the hardware and software capabilities of its offering to enterprises and other organizations looking to explore the burgeoning quantum computing field.
The company is working with quantum computing chip and software provider Rigetti Computing to make those systems available to users of Microsoft’s Azure Quantum quantum cloud service. Once available in the first quarter of 2022, organizations will be able to program Rigetti computers by leveraging various quantum software frameworks.

IQT-News: Microsoft adds Rigetti to Azure Quantum roster

The announcement last month by Microsoft and Rigetti came days after officials with the enterprise software and cloud giant said it was working with international consultancy firm KPMG to solve business problems using quantum-inspired optimization tech.
The announcements by Microsoft and its technology partners are the latest illustrations of the acceleration in innovation and offerings in a quantum computing field that has been talked about since the 1980s but has seen significant advancements in recent years and an embrace by not only an array of established vendors like Microsoft, Google and IBM but also a growing list of startups that are looking for traction in the market.
The Microsoft news also puts a spotlight on the role the cloud will play in advancing quantum computing efforts. Microsoft isn’t the only vendor with a cloud play in the space. IBM, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Alibaba are among the hyperscalers that offer cloud-accessed quantum computing services of various degrees and have talked about even more ambitious goals.
For example, Google earlier this year announced plans for a commercial quantum system before the end of the decade that will run large-scale calculations with no errors.