(MorningStar) Quantum Computing Inc., a leader in bridging the power of classical and quantum computing, has announced their business partnership and exclusive marketing agreement with QPhoton, Inc., a leading innovator in the quantum photonic technology space. The companies will work together to merge QCI’s quantum software solution, Qatalyst™, with QPhoton’s advanced photonic quantum technologies for its application to QCI-specific solutions.
QPhoton’s technology is a condensate of ground-breaking quantum research over two decades, with the support from DARPA, NSF, NASA, DoD, and other prestigious federal funding agencies. Dr. Yuping Huang, CEO of QPhoton, the Gallaher associate professor of physics and director of the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, has led many pivotal, large-scale quantum projects both at Northwestern University (2009-2014) and now Stevens (2014-present), for a total fund volume of ~$30 million.
QPhoton has secured a wide spectrum of quantum IP covering quantum sensing, communications, encryption, and nanophotonic chips. “Its engineers have successfully developed advanced nanophotonic and microelectronic circuits, and a series of prototype systems for quantum big data processing and measurement, demonstrating significant advantages over the state-of-the-art.”“As demonstrated in our BMW Challenge submission concerning sensor placement, the volume of sensors and possible combinations demand significant optimization processing power,” added Liscouski. “Working with QPhoton, we will create an integrated quantum solution that offers the opportunity to better solve these types of problems with a suite of highly integrated and optimized quantum technologies, including quantum sensors, quantum processors and quantum software.”The agreement includes exclusive marketing rights to QPhoton’s quantum and photonic computing technologies and resources. The companies expect to demonstrate initial joint quantum solutions in the Q4 2022 time frame.
“QCI is committed to developing quantum computing solutions that bring real value to business and government customers – today. We believe our partnership with QPhoton has the potential to accelerate and expand our effort to democratize quantum computing with groundbreaking and immediately usable quantum solutions that are affordable and can deliver ROI to end users,” said Robert Liscouski, CEO of QCI. “As a quantum innovator, QPhoton leverages two decades of leading quantum studies to bring significant quantum value to the market including advanced photonic chips, quantum nanophotonics, quantum-boosted sensing (Light Detection and Ranging), quantum-secured cyber applications, and quantum networks.” Liscouski added, “We are honored to partner with such a visionary scientist and innovator as Dr. Huang.”
QCI is focused on creating powerful quantum optimization software and algorithms that can be processed on any quantum computer in a fraction of the time and effort currently needed. By coupling quantum hardware technologies from QPhoton with Qatalyst, QCI will deliver more powerful solutions to accelerate the application and value from quantum computing for specific applications and markets. QPhoton technologies will also offer QCI reseller, technology and QPU partners enhanced solutions to further accelerate the adoption of quantum computing.
A key advantage of the Qatalyst software is that it is hardware-agnostic, supporting a variety of quantum technologies and QPUs, each with their own unique performance and computational attributes. This eliminates the need for deep, complex low-level coding and vendor lock-in required by available software alternatives. By adding QPhoton’s capabilities, QCI believes that the proposed partnership has the potential to allow QCI to add photonic technologies into its supported quantum hardware technology, further expanding its customers’ options when selecting their preferred quantum IP and/or approaches to quantum computing.
“I am very grateful for the continued trust and generous support by the government,” said Dr. Huang. “My commitment in those projects has always been twofold: advancing knowledge and creating broader impacts. Partnering with QCI, QPhoton will contribute significantly to the rise of the quantum industry in the U.S. and help deliver on the promises we made to the government.”