Quantum News Briefs February 16: D-Wave launches initiative to accelerate AI/ML workflows, & expands quantum cloud service to Israel; Securing supply chains with quantum computing; Quantum Machines releases quantum chip carrier for seamless high-fidelity integration + MORE

Quantum News Briefs February 16: D-Wave launches initiative to accelerate AI/ML workflows, & expands quantum cloud service to Israel; Securing supply chains with quantum computing; Quantum Machines releases quantum chip carrier for seamless high-fidelity integration + MORE.

D-Wave launches initiative to accelerate AI/ML workflows, & expands quantum cloud service to Israel

D-Wave has built a feature selection offering that uses quantum hybrid approaches to optimize feature selection in artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) model training and prediction according to February 16 notice in Benzinga and summarized here by Quantum News Briefs.
The D-Wave offering is uniquely suited to perform feature selection by constructing and solving a combinatorial optimization problem. Compared to classical alternatives like recursive feature elimination, this approach provides a “one-shot” solution.
D-Wave also announced today that it would soon open up the availability of the Leap quantum cloud service in Israel. Businesses, developers, and researchers in Israel will soon access D-Wave’s Advantage quantum computer, hybrid quantum/classical solvers, and the integrated developer environment (IDE) in real-time via Leap to drive the development of business-critical, in-production hybrid applications.
On March 8, Leap will be available in 39 countries globally, including Israel, and will be accessible directly from D-Wave or in AWS Marketplace.  Click here to read announcement in-entirety.

Securing supply chains with quantum computing

New research in quantum computing at Sandia National Laboratories is moving science closer to being able to overcome supply-chain challenges and restore global security during future periods of unrest. Quantum News Briefs summarizes Phys.org article discussing this article.
“Reconfiguring the supply chain on short notice is an exceptionally difficult optimization problem, which restricts the agility of global trade,” said Alicia Magann, a Truman Fellow at Sandia. She has led the development of a new way to design programs on quantum computers, which she and her team think could be especially useful for solving these kinds of massive optimization problems someday in the future when quantum technology becomes more mature.
The Sandia team recently published the new approach in two joint papers in the journals Physical Review Letters and Physical Review A.
Optimization algorithms help industry perform tasks like coordinating trucking routes or managing financial assets. These problems are generally difficult to work out, Magann said, and as the number of variables increases, finding good solutions becomes harder.
Mohan Sarovar, the principal investigator on the project, said, “It’s very difficult to come up with quantum algorithms. One of the big reasons for this, apart from quantum computing being very unintuitive, is that we have very few general frameworks for developing quantum algorithms.”
The Sandia team succeeded in greatly reducing the role of classical computing. With the new framework, called FALQON—short for Feedback-based Algorithm for Quantum Optimization—the classical computer does not do any optimization. It only needs the computational power of a calculator, letting the quantum computer do all the heavy lifting and theoretically allowing it to work on much more complicated problems, like how to efficiently reroute a shipping fleet when a major port suddenly closes. Click here for complete phys.org article.

Quantum Machines releases quantum chip carrier for seamless high-fidelity integration

Quantum Machines announced on February 15 the release of QCage.64, the newest product from QDevil, the company’s Quantum Electronics business unit. Quantum News Briefs summarizes announcement.
QCage.64 is an innovative chip package that enables the high-fidelity operation of superconducting quantum processors, providing a key component in the stack as quantum processors approach commercial scale.
The QCage.64 is a cutting-edge chip package that enables hassle-free, high-fidelity integration of superconducting quantum processors into the cryogenic environment and full hardware stack. The chip is suspended in a microwave cavity to minimize losses and decoherence while offering superior connectivity with near-perfect line transmission. With its modular loading and connectivity solution, chips can be easily transferred between wire bonding stations and pre-screening setups, and finally loaded and operated in full-stack quantum computing systems.
“With the release of our most advanced chip carrier yet, we are offering critical quantum computing components to everyone,” said Itamar Sivan, co-founder and CEO of Quantum Machines. “Quantum Machines now covers more of the control stack, from low-level programming, through signal generation, all the way down to the chip. The QCage family of products enables seamless and high-fidelity integration of our customers’ quantum processors with our advanced control system, hastening the onset of practical quantum computing at a commercial scale.”
Click here to read complete announcement in Quantum Machines news room.

QCI commences Cyber Security launch as patent is awarded addressing unconditional network security

Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI) announced on February 15 its business initiative on quantum cyber security based on an international patent that gives QCI exclusive rights to the utilization of a basket of network security solutions. Quantum News Briefs summarizes.
The patented technology gives system-wide, zero-trust protections to many communication scenarios involving data sharing among untrusted parties, whose security is derived only from quantum physics laws. Designed to be compatible with existing fiber-based communication infrastructure and satellite-based networks, QCI’s quantum cyber security is available today for Government and large commercial systems.
“This breakthrough patent fills a critical security breach by offering a way to effectively protect information to safeguard the entire network at all points of slippage from A to Z. We have the unequivocal ability to ensure that the intended parties are in communication and that the information exchanged has been unaltered and is unconditionally secured against interception,” commented Bill McGann, Quantum Computing Inc.’s Chief Operating and Technology Officer. “The patent received swift approval from many international countries, well ahead of normal schedule, validating its importance. . .” Click here to read the complete announcement.