Quantum Tech Enthusiasts Both Hopeful & Uneasy Amazon & Microsoft Will Make it Possible to Interface with Various Quantum Hardware

(VentureBeat) Entrepreneurs and enthusiasts are hopeful that Amazon and Microsoft will make it easier to interface with the various quantum hardware technologies. They’re uneasy, however, because Amazon and Microsoft have not shared pricing and technical details. Plus, some of the quantum providers offer their own cloud services.
Enterprises and researchers interested in testing and experimenting with quantum are excited because they will be able to use different quantum processors via the same service, at least in theory. They’re uneasy, however, because the quantum processors are so fundamentally different that it’s not clear how easy it will be to switch between them. D-Wave uses quantum annealing, Honeywell and IonQ use ion trap devices, and Rigetti and QCI use superconducting chips. Even the technologies that are “the same” have completely different architectures.
Currently, cloud quantum computing options are limited to single hardware providers, such as those from D-Wave and IBM. Amazon and Microsoft want to change that with cloud-based services.