CES 2020: IBM adds Delta as it expands its Q Network
The race is on to find practical applications for quantum computing, and IBM aims to lead as it signs up partners like Delta Airlines, Goldman Sachs, and Los Alamos National Lab to its Q Network.
Also: More CES coverage at CNET
Big Blue said its Q Network, designed to advance quantum computing, has more than 100 organizations spanning multiple verticals. Delta Air Lines is the latest to join the quantum computing collaboration group.
Delta plans to join the IBM Q Hub at North Carolina State in a bid to address travel, transport, and customer challenges. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said at his CES 2020 keynote that the airline is looking to use technology to reduce stress across the travel day.
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The IBM Q Network provides access to the company's experts, developer tools, and cloud-based quantum systems through IBM Q Cloud, which has run hundreds of billions of executions.
In addition, IBM said it has reached a Quantum Volume of 32. Quantum Volume, which has doubled every year since 2016, is a metric that determines how powerful a quantum computer is.
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Finding practical applications for quantum computing is critical since many efforts to date fall more into the science experiment category. However, enterprises are looking to quantum computing for breakthroughs. For instance, Daimler AG researchers and IBM teamed up to develop next-generation batteries.
Quantum computing is a hot research space, and IBM unveiled a commercial system at CES last year as well as a computing center. Google also claimed quantum supremacy amid hackles from the early-stage industry and IBM. And Amazon Web Services outlined a quantum marketplace. The requirements of quantum computing, however, mean that most consumption will occur via the cloud. Recent developments include:
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