Category Archives: Quantum Computing

Another record has been broken on the way to fully operational and capable quantum computers: the complete control of a 6-qubit quantum processor in silicon.

Researchers are calling it "a major stepping stone" for the technology.

Qubits (or quantum bits) are the quantum equivalents of classical computing bits, only they can potentially process much more information. Thanks to quantum physics, they can be in two states at once, rather than just a single 1 or 0.

The difficulty is in getting a lot of qubits to behave as we need them to, which is why this jump to six is important. Being able to operate them in silicon the same material used in today's electronic devices makes the technology potentially more viable.

"The quantum computing challenge today consists of two parts," says quantum computing researcher Stephan Philips from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. "Developing qubits that are of good enough quality, and developing an architecture that allows one to build large systems of qubits."

"Our work fits into both categories. And since the overall goal of building a quantum computer is an enormous effort, I think it is fair to say we have made a contribution in the right direction."

The qubits are made from individual electrons fixed in a row, 90 nanometers apart (a human hair is around 75,000 nanometers in diameter). This line of 'quantum dots' is placed in silicon, using a structure similar to the transistors used in standard processors.

By making careful improvements to the way the electrons were prepared, managed, and monitored, the team was able to successfully control their spin the quantum mechanical property that enables the qubit state.

The researchers were also able to create logic gates and entangle systems of two or three electrons, on demand, with low error rates.

Researchers used microwave radiation, magnetic fields, and electric potentials to control and read electron spin, operating them as qubits, and getting them to interact with each other as required.

"In this research, we push the envelope of the number of qubits in silicon, and achieve high initialization fidelities, high readout fidelities, high single-qubit gate fidelities, and high two-qubit state fidelities," says electrical engineer Lieven Vandersypen, also from the Delft University of Technology.

"What really stands out though is that we demonstrate all these characteristics together in one single experiment on a record number of qubits."

Up until this point, only 3-qubit processors have been successfully built in silicon and controlled up to the necessary level of quality so we're talking about a major step forward in terms of what's possible in this type of qubit.

There are different ways of building qubits including on superconductors, where many more qubits have been operated together and scientists are still figuring out the method that might be the best way forward.

The advantage of silicon is that the manufacturing and supply chains are all already in place, meaning the transition from a scientific laboratory to an actual machine should be more straightforward. Work continues to keep pushing the qubit record even higher.

"With careful engineering, it is possible to increase the silicon spin qubit count while keeping the same precision as for single qubits," says electrical engineer Mateusz Madzik from the Delft University of Technology.

"The key building block developed in this research could be used to add even more qubits in the next iterations of study."

The research has been published in Nature.

More here:

There's a New Quantum Computing Record: Control of a 6-Qubit Processor in Silicon - ScienceAlert

Cleveland Clinic has been selected as a founding partner and the leading healthcare system in a new initiative meant to spur collaboration and innovation in the quantum computing industry.

Based in Greater Washington D.C., Connected DMV and a cross-sector coalition of partners are developing the new Life Sciences and Healthcare Quantum Innovation Hub to prepare the industry for the burgeoning quantum era and align with key national and global efforts in life sciences and quantum technologies.

The U.S. Department of Commerces Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded more than $600,000 to Connected DMV for development of the Hub. This will include the formation of a collaboration of at least 25 organizations specializing in quantum end-use and technology build.

Cleveland Clinic was invited to join the Hub because of its work in advancing medical research through quantum computing. As the lead healthcare system in the coalition, Cleveland Clinic will help define quantums role in the future of healthcare and disseminate education to other health systems on its possibilities.

We believe quantum computing holds great promise for accelerating the pace of scientific discovery, said Lara Jehi, M.D., M.H.C.D.S., Cleveland Clinics Chief Research Information Officer. As an academic medical center, research, innovation and education are an integral part of Cleveland Clinics mission. Quantum, AI and other emerging technologies have the potential to revolutionize medicine, and we look forward to working with partners across healthcare and life sciences to solve complex medical problems and change the course of diseases like cancer, heart conditions and neurodegenerative disorders.

Last year, Cleveland Clinic announced a 10-year partnership with IBM to establish the Discovery Accelerator, a joint center focused on easing traditional bottlenecks in medical research through innovative technologies such as quantum computing, hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence. The partnership leverages Cleveland Clinics medical expertise with the technology expertise of IBM including its leadership in quantum technology which recently resulted in the Breakthrough Award in Fundamental Physics for quantum information science. The Discovery Accelerator will allow Cleveland Clinic to contribute to Connected DMVs Hub by advancing the pace of discovery with the first private sector on-premises Quantum System One being installed on Cleveland Clinics main campus.

Innovation is always iterative, and requires sustained collaboration between research, development and technology, and the industries that will benefit from the value generated, said George Thomas, Chief Innovation Officer of Connected DMV and lead of its Potomac Quantum Innovation Center initiative. Quantum has the potential to have a substantive impact on our society in the near future, and the Life Sciences and Healthcare Quantum Innovation Hub will serve as the foundation for sustained focus and investment to accelerate and scale our path into the era of quantum.

The Hub will be part of Connected DMVs Potomac Quantum Innovation Center initiative, which aims to: accelerate quantum investment, and research and development; develop an equitable and scalable talent pipeline; and scale collaboration between the public sector, academia, industry, community, and investors to accelerate the value of quantum. The Quantum Innovation Hubs are a part of this initiative to focus on accelerating quantum investment, research and development in key industry sectors.

Continue reading here:

Cleveland Clinic Selected as Founding Partner in Greater Washington, D.C., Quantum Computing Hub - Cleveland Clinic Newsroom

What will be the next big thing in technology? Some futurists have made the case for quantum computing stocks.

Quantum computing aims to reimagine the future of advanced calculations. Historically, computing power has grown at a predictable rate largely constrained by Moores Law. This is the observation that as the number of transistors on a semiconductor chip tends to double every two years, the cost of computing drops by half. This has long governed the pace of innovation in the computing industry.

However, were hitting physical limits to how much smaller chip fabrication technologies can reach. Moores Law cant go on forever. To deliver further exponential gains, a new computing technique will be needed. According to Microsofts (NASDAQ:MSFT) fact sheet, Quantum computers harness the unique behavior of quantum physics such as superposition, entanglement, and quantum interference and apply it to computing.

If successfully applied at a commercial scale, this new technique could offer breakthroughs in fields as diverse as artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, computation chemistry and autonomous driving. Here are seven quantum computing stocks that could stand to benefit.

Source: IgorGolovniov / Shutterstock.com

Many discussions of quantum computing start withAlphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL). In 2019, Google announced that it had achieved quantum supremacy, in which its quantum computer Sycamore achieved the rapid calculation of a problem that would take existing supercomputers thousands of years to achieve.

This claim has since come under fire. In 2022, Chinese scientists responded, saying they had built a classical computer that could achieve the calculation in a similar period of time and outperform Sycamore. As happens on the cutting edge of science, a great deal of rivalry and competition remains.

In any case, Googles announcement set off a land rush in the quantum computing space. Google has a unique position in that if its Sycamore project has increasing success, it can leverage that across a wide variety of other futuristic Google ventures such as AI, healthcare and autonomous driving. It may take a long time for any quantum computing venture to add much to Googles top line given how massive the core search and advertising business is by comparison. However, this stock is clearly part of the quantum computing conversation.

Source: Shutterstock

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has its sights on a number of next-generation technology applications. One of these includes quantum computing. Nvidia appears to be marketing itself as a picks-and-shovels sort of way to get exposure to the industry.

It can do this via creating quantum simulations. Heres the companys explanation: NVIDIA cuQuantum is an SDK of optimized libraries and tools for accelerating quantum computing workflows. With NVIDIA GPU Tensor Core GPUs, developers can use cuQuantum to speed up quantum circuit simulations based on state vector and tensor network methods by orders of magnitude.

Quantum computing is unlikely to be a primary driver of NVDAs stock price in the near future. But it could add another catalyst to the companys growth outlook over time.

Source: shutterstock.com/LCV

IBM (NYSE:IBM) has been working on developing its own quantum computing systems for quite awhile. And its had a significant amount of success to date. Its Hummingbird computing system hit 65 qubits of operating capability in 2020. IBM is aiming to top 1,000 qubits within the next couple of years. The capacity of qubits is a key consideration for when this technology may reach commercial viability.

Investors might be skeptical of IBMs abilities here. After all, the company has long touted Watson, its AI-powered computer system that answers questions posed to it in natural language. Watson has proven adept in winning at games such as chess and Jeopardy but has not achieved the levels of commercial prominence that IBM stock bulls might have previously hoped.

Will IBMs quantum computing venture follow a similar path? Only time will tell. However, IBM retains a highly profitable core business while being one of the most powerful research and development (R&D) teams in the world. Items such as IBMs quantum computing arm serve as upside options that could suddenly cause IBM stock to move to a higher valuation.

Source: NYCStock / Shutterstock.com

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) used to be known for missing several key technological trends, such as smartphones. However, its gotten much better about leading new technological trends. The firms early and powerful move into cloud services, with Azure, has been exceptionally successful. And now, Azure itself is giving Microsoft into a beachhead into quantum computing.

Microsoft is building a quantum ecosystem within Azure. Both through Microsofts own internal products and with its partners, Microsoft offers quantum computing solutions to its customers.

This is easier for customers, since they can get access to quantum computing solutions through their existing cloud offering instead of having to get a physical quantum computer. It also creates immense lock-in for Azure in an increasing competitive cloud computing industry.

Source: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com

Another thing we can be sure of is that existing technology leaders wont take innovation lying down. Taiwans government, to that end, announced a $290 million investment plan in 2021 for developing future quantum computing innovations.

If quantum computing really takes off, it would threaten Taiwan Semiconductors (NYSE:TSM) monopolistic position in current semiconductor manufacturing. So, Taiwan as a nation, and TSM in particular, are understandably investing to keep up with potential competition. It remains to be seen exactly what TSMs long-term approach to quantum computing will be. But its a dominant player in computing technology today and is investing in quantum.

Source: Shutterstock

For the final two picks, we have pure-play quantum computing stocks. It should be noted from the top that these two are far riskier than anything else on the list. These companies have failed to generate meaningful revenues or fully proven out their business models as of yet.

Rigetti (NASDAQ:RGTI), in particular, is one of the two primary special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) that went to market recently related to quantum computing. Rigetti claims to have some of the most powerful quantum computing technology out there. And it has impressive research partnerships with organizations such as the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Energy.

Rigetti only generated $8 million in revenues in 2021, and is expected to bring in $13 million this year. The company is still years shy of reaching a tipping point where it generates substantial commercial demand. However, for pure-play quantum computing stocks, Rigetti is one to watch.

Source: Amin Van / Shutterstock.com

This is by far the most controversial pick on this list. IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) claims to have the worlds most powerful quantum computer. Short seller firm Scorpion Capital, however, called the company a brazen scamin an exhaustive 183-page report. For investors that arent quantum physicists, it can be hard to evaluate the merits of the companys technology and the ensuing short seller claims.

What we do know is that IonQ has generated scant revenues so far. Even by its own admission, theres a long path ahead of it before it develops enough qubits to generate substantial commercial demand and finally reach profitability. However, its also been easy for short sellers to go after SPACs with unproven business models. Many of Scorpions points about the companys current financials could be correct without invalidating the companys entire technology.

In any case, IONQ stock remains the single largest holding in the Defiance Quantum ETF (NYSEARCA:QTUM) as of the time of writing, despite the controversy. For investors willing to speculate on a high-risk, high-reward quantum computing stock, IONQ stock is certainly cheaper now than it was a year ago.

On the date of publication, Ian Bezek held a LONG position in IBM stock. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Ian Bezek has written more than 1,000 articles for InvestorPlace.com and Seeking Alpha. He also worked as a Junior Analyst for Kerrisdale Capital, a $300 million New York City-based hedge fund. You can reach him on Twitter at @irbezek.

Original post:

The Next Big Thing in Tech? 7 Quantum Computing Stocks to Bet On. - InvestorPlace

Nearly all schools have computer-based classes, but many dont offer even foundational classes on programming, let alone advanced computing.

A 2022 study by the Code.org Advocacy Coalition found that 53.4% of Ohio high school students attend a school that offers foundational computer science classes such as basic programming. However, only 22% of urban school districts offered foundational computer science courses compared to 57% of suburban schools.

In 2019, Ohio was ranked 37th among all 50 states in the number of college computer science graduates, as a percentage of total college graduates at all levels (Kentucky was ranked 1st), and 44th in growth in number of computer science graduates over five years, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Ohio updates curriculum

Ohio recently invested heavily in changing this. Last month, the Ohio State Board of Education approved an updated Model Curriculum for Computer Science. The 400 pages of guidance for local districts recommends students as early as kindergarten learning to protect passwords and understand the basics of artificial intelligence, and high schoolers using cybersecurity concepts like cluster computing and quantum key distribution.

The change represents a dramatic update from previous educational standards, initiated by the state last year. Ohio currently has over 20,000 open computer science positions, said Bryan Stewart, workforce director at the Montgomery County Educational Service Center. As Ohio prepares to welcome tech manufacturing giants like Intel, that gap may get worse.

Thats a question that we play with when we look at the future of Ohios workforce, Stewart said. We have to ask ourselves, Will Dayton, will the Miami Valley be a haven for startups? Will we see tech companies born out of the minds of our kids? If we want that to be a reality, if we want venture capital to speed into Ohio, you cant do that unless you teach kids about computer science.

Stebbins High School in the Mad River School District takes a different approach. Many classes through the schools Career Technology Program incorporate computer science in a tangential way, such as engineering and robotics, or graphic design and digital media. Students learn to work with several systems, such as SolidWorks, AutoCAD, and Adobe Photoshop, said Career Tech Director and Assistant Principal Jeff Berk.

We also have career tech courses at our middle school, Berk said, adding that the state of Ohio supports career tech education. We are able to stay up to industry standards within all of our programs, and making sure our students are prepared, and what theyre going to see (in the workplace), they had the chance to see it here.

In recent years, Mad River discontinued a cybersecurity career path based on lack of enrollment and student interest, Berk said, in favor of a Teacher Academy. However, juniors and seniors can also participate in the Tech Prep program, where students do hands-on IT work throughout the building, troubleshooting everything from printers to student laptops.

Obstacles to improvement

Improving computer science education faces several hurdles. One issue governments have grappled with is that the field evolves so quickly that its difficult for educators to keep up, even at the local level.

I think we do the best we can. But computer science changes so quickly. Its not like math where algebra is the same now as it was 100 years ago, Schultz said. Now weve got standard things like quantum computing and artificial intelligence and machine learning, things that werent even spoken of five years ago. So its tough for schools, tough for anybody with a limited budget, to try and stay on top of that.

The State Committee on Computer Science, formed by this years state budget, outlined 10 recommendations in August that, if implemented, would help make Ohio a national leader in computer science education and workforce pipeline, state officials said. Among these include a commitment by the state to fund computer science courses at 1% of the K-12 funding formula, about $94 million today, in future years, as well as making a single credit computer science course a high school graduation requirement.

Funding is important because hardware that educators have access to sometimes lags behind what is used in the industry, Berk said.

A lot of times in education, the access to technology that students have sometimes is outdated, he said. Thats one of the major challenges. Especially in high school, when they go out into to the workforce, that theyre having that opportunity to work with machines and computers that are going to be at the same level

Finding teachers is also huge problem, as often individuals who are qualified to teach the next generation about computer science have no financial incentive to do so.

The majority of them realize that they can go out and find a job in the industry and make double what they would make as a teacher, said Schultz.

Minorities, girls lag

To address teacher shortages, the state committee recommended Teach CS grants that fund training for teachers to obtain computer science licensure, and establishing an Office of Computer Science to support the over 600 Ohio school districts in implementing their own computer science programs.

Stebbins Teacher Academy was created both to address the teacher shortage in the general K-12 sphere and supply a program that matched students interests, Berk said.

Were doing what we can do to help supply the region with the workers that we need for all the different professions, he said.

The states Model Curriculum also includes provisions for equitable access to computer science education. Schools in lower-income neighborhoods and schools with large numbers of minority students often offer only rudimentary user skills rather than problem-solving and computational thinking, according to the curriculum.

Among students who took the Advanced Placement Computer Science exam in 2020, only 6% of students were Black or African American, 16% were Hispanic or Latino and 0.5% were Native American, according to data from the College Board, which administers AP tests.

Female students are also underrepresented in high school computer science classes, accounting for just 34% of AP Computer Science Principles participants and 25% of AP Computer Science A participants, per College Board data. During the 2020-21 school year, female students accounted for only 27% of over 3,700 AP Computer Science exams taken in Ohio.

In order to reach female and minority students, the state board recommends using examples that are equally relevant to both males and females, and tying problems to students everyday lives.

Particularly for young learners and beginners, visual, block-based programming languages help address language and syntax barriers, according to state documents.

Getting more girls and minority students into coding is useful, not just for creating a diverse workforce, but for addressing the huge need for computer-savvy people in todays industry. After-school programs like Girls Who Code also are working to bridge this gap, but the model curriculum aims to tackle these problems inside the classroom.

Private sector companies, the industry side of things, they really want to see a more diverse workforce. But theyre never going to have them unless we start earlier and try to start breaking down some of these barriers or perceptions, Stewart said.

Visit link:

Schools get creative with computer science teaching as Ohios state standards try to keep with the times - Dayton Daily News

-Most advanced optical technology in India

-A game changer for 5G, Quantum Computing and Data Centre connectivity

NEW DELHI, Oct. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- STL (NSE: STLTECH), one of the industry's leading integrators of digital networks, today launched India's first Multicore fibre and cable. This breakthrough innovation will change the optical connectivity landscape of India.

This has been conceptualised and developed indigenously at STL's Centre of Excellence in Maharashtra with top interdisciplinary R&D experts. STL's Multiverse leverages Space Division Multiplexing to gain 4X transmission capacity per fibre, within the same diameter.

Speaking at the launch, Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, said: "I am excited to see this optical fibre innovation from a homegrown company. STL's Multiverse fibre and cable will enable 4X capacity and play a vital role in 5G scale-up. I wish STL all the very best for their efforts towards supporting network build outs."

STL Multiverse offers features that can revolutionise connectivity for network builders:

Commenting on the launch, Dr Badri Gomatam, CTO, STL, said, "We have been doing deep research on optical fibre for over 15 years. In the last three years, we have been able to excel in Multicore technology and indigenously developed this product. We are proud to be the first in India to launch this. STL's Multiverse will revolutionise 5G and data center connectivity, actualise quantum computing at scale and make the internet greener."

About STL - Sterlite Technologies Ltd:

STL is an industry-leading integrator of digital networks that helps telcos, cloud companies, citizen networks and large enterprises deliver enhanced experiences to their customers. Read more, Contact us.

stl.tech|Twitter| LinkedIn|YouTube

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1912473/STL.jpg

SOURCE STL

Link:

STL launches Multiverse - India's first Multicore fibre and cable; aims to revolutionize the optical landscape - PR Newswire

More than 100leading experts, post-doctoral researchersand students from around the worldrecently descended upon the University of Toronto to share their quantum research.

The ninth biennialCentre for Quantum Information & Quantum Control (CQIQC) conference, a week-long gathering that wrapped up earlier this month, was held at theFields Instituteon theSt. George campus and was organized by the Faculty of Arts & SciencesCQIQC research nexus.

The conference has always been a wonderful opportunity to bring together leaders and young researchers from all sorts of different sub-areas in the field for a week in Toronto, says University ProfessorAephraim Steinberg ofU of Ts department of physicsand lead organizer of the conference.

It's very exciting for us because we get to talk to people in our own specialty or in different specialties. Its a chance to get a broad view of what's exciting and what's going on in the field.

CQIQC pronounced see-quick is the interdisciplinary umbrella organization for quantum research at U of T. It promotes research collaborations in theoretical and experimental activities; educates and trains students; runs a variety of programs such as post-doctoral fellowships, summer internships for undergrads, visiting professorships and awards; and runs a successful seminar series.

More than a hundred leading experts, post-doctoral researchers and students from around the world met at the ninth biennialCentre for Quantum Information & Quantum Control (CQIQC) conference (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Our members are from science and engineering departments and are working on both fundamental and applied aspects of quantum science and technology, saysDvira Segal, the centres interim director and a professor in the department of chemistry.

The centres ambition is to advance quantum research and education in Canada and establish U of T as a world-class research institute in the quantum field. We foster and facilitate interactions and collaborations between various research groups within the university and internationally, as well as promote partnerships with industry.

The interdisciplinary conference featured five days of invited and contributed talks exploring all topics quantum which are available on theconference website.

Experts from Stanford University, MIT, Harvard University, Duke University and other institutions, as well as scientists and entrepreneurs from startup companies,shared advances theyve made in quantum computing and quantum supremacy aterm used to describe when a quantum computer solves a problem that cant be solved by a classical computer in a reasonable amount of time.

Some talked about the ramifications of quantum advances on the cryptography that protects our digital and network transactions. Some discussed the practical challenges in building quantum computers and the quantum algorithms they run. Others explored more fundamental topics in quantum physics, including the nature of quantum phenomena and what makes them quantum.

Alejandro Perdomo-Ortiz, research director, Quantum AI, at Zapata Computing gives a presentation at the conference (photo by Diana Tyszko)

The conference provided students from around the world with an opportunity to share their research with attendees in discussions and poster sessions, and a chance to network with leading researchers in the field.

Daniela Angulo Murcillo,a graduate student in the quantum optics group in U of Ts department of physics, presented a poster, Measuring the Atomic Excitation Time due to Narrowband Resonant Photons that are Transmitted, that described work she and her collaborators are conducting under the supervision of Steinberg.

I truly enjoyed this conference because of the variety of subjects involved from foundational topics like contextuality to technological applications like quantum computing, says Murcillo.

I was inspired to explore new subjects by passionate scientists telling us about their work;reading about boson sampling is my new hobby! I was also able to discuss my work with other students and professors, and their questions tested me to find different strategies to explain my research.

Frank Corapi, a graduate student in the quantum optics group in the department of physics, participated in the conference poster session(photo by Diana Tyszko)

Frank Corapiis another graduate student in the quantum optics group. He presented a poster, Towards Quantum Simulation with p-Wave Interacting Fermions, describing research he and collaborators conducted under the supervision ofJoseph Thywissen, a professor in the department of physics.

I greatly enjoyed my time at the conference, says Corapi. Discussing my research with some of the other attendees provided me with new perspectives on concepts I'd been thinking about for a long time. The various talks and posters were also quite interesting, and the entire experience left me with many ideas to bring back to the lab.

For Steinberg and others at CQIQC, the conference continues to be one of the ways the centre is fulfilling its mission.

CQIQC has been around for more than 20 years, and weve been running this conference for almost the entire time, says Steinberg.

We're undergoing continued growth and are always bringing in more students and faculty who are pushing the boundaries of this area and were proud the conference has become one of the international mainstays of the quantum information meeting circuit.

Anna Dyring, CQIQCs quantum strategic initiative lead and one of the conference organizers, says the interest from students and young people, including undergraduate students, wasstriking,as was the large presence of industry representatives and startups.

These outcomes are hopefully a sign of a growing and maturing field, and feels very encouraging for the future.

More here:

Global experts in quantum technologies, research gather at U of T to discuss 'growing and maturing field' - University of Toronto

We live in a time of Digital Darwinism, where technology and society are evolving faster than businesses can adapt, and those who are digitally fit will survive and thrive. The pandemic has taught us that technology is undoubtedly the sutradhar- a unifying force of the digital economy and will continue to propel Indias digital mission. Technology is ingrained in every aspect of our lives, including how we work, live, build, connect, and transact. Exponential technologies like hybrid cloud and AI have taken center stage in the contactless world and are all set to scale through this techade. Harnessing the power of technology evolution hybrid cloud, AI, and game-changing quantum computing will be crucial for India to lead the world through this digital revolution.

Hybrid cloud and AI are inherently dynamic and can expose organisations to cyber-attacks if data security isnt taken seriously. The Cost of Data Breach Report shows that Indias data breach costs increased to $176 million in 2022, a 25% increase from 2020. Businesses must note that a constantly evolving and increasingly complex tech ecosystem that is not resilient to evolving threats will compromise the integrity and trust in next-generation technologies. For India to grow in the techade, it is critical to understand the dynamics of digitisation and its opportunities and challenges. This is particularly true for growing cybersecurity risk; it is the need of the hour for businesses to strengthen and continuously improve their security posture by establishing a zero-trust cyber security environment.

Hybrid Cloud a critical strategy for our times

In a fast-evolving digital world, every enterprises de facto infrastructure has become hybrid. The pandemic significantly accelerated digital transformation in all businesses and cloud adoption helped in this journey. This urgent need for action prompted organisations to tactically assemble their current cloud estates quickly through a mix of public, private, and on-premises assetsthat may or may not work together efficiently. In fact, the average enterprise is expected to have 10 clouds by 2023, up from 8 in 2020. SaaS applications have also exploded, moving many standard business processes to the cloud. Without architectural guard rails, implementation pressures lead to corner-cutting, making the IT landscape more complex and costly, less secure, and less likely to deliver operational agility and better business outcomes.71% of executives cited data integration across the cloud estate as an enterprise problem.

Hybrid Cloud is a mix of cloud environments that includes public, private, as well as on-premises infrastructure. This mix of environments often falls short of financial and operational expectations without a level of integration across them with seamless interoperability and portability of applications and data across environments. Done right, a Hybrid Cloud Platform open by design and without vendor lock-in provides a fabric for orchestration, management, and application/data portability across these environments. This platform is increasingly relevant in a world where enterprises are building edge computing capabilities to monetize the opportunities available through the launch of 5G and 6G technology.

AI and Automation are foundational

With over two quintillion bytes created daily and much of it being unstructured data that our computers have not been able to interpret before Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to gain relevance by augmenting human capabilities with analytics and insights to make informed decisions.

In India, data is generated everywhere. A village compounder, without Internet access, generates data when he requests the next batch of polio vaccine, even in a remote village. Likewise, the subsidy for medical procedures generates data about patients and their pre-existing conditions. Automation powered by AI will also help mitigate supply chain disruptions by making business processes and workflows more agile and efficient.

Through multi-lingual support, an NLP chatbot or conversational AI can bridge the language gap between Indias English-speaking and non-English-speaking populations. By using artificial intelligence to recognise handwriting across different languages in India, we can simplify data entry and create a clean data lake. From crop planning to precision farming, AI has the potential to empower farmers to deploy tailored interventions, whereas in the social sphere, AI will improve the quality of life for citizens, including hyper-personalisation in financial services and retail.

Evolution to Quantum

Advances in traditional classical computing, plus advances in AI, are driving the most important revolution in computing the emergence of Quantum computing. Enterprises will evolve from analysing data to discovering new ways to solve problems. When combined with open integration, AI, and hyper-automation, this will ultimately lead to new business models. As we have seen with the pandemic, disruption and uncertainties will make business models more sensitive to and dependent on new technologies. Quantum computing offers the potential to expand the scope and complexity of business problems we can solve. Quantum computing in combination with existing advanced technologies will dramatically impact how science and business evolve by accelerating the discovery of solutions to big global challenges. The integration of quantum computing, AI, and classical computing into hybrid multicloud workflows will drive the most significant computing revolution in 60 years.

Quantum computing will not replace classical computing it will extend and complement it by affording enterprises the opportunity to solve complex problems that test the limits of classical computing. Example of use cases that enterprises have started to experiment with include untangling operational disruption for airlines (IROPS), enhancing contextual personalised services for customers, optimising airline network/shipping logistics planning globally, and healthcare solutions related to genomics, single-cell transcriptomics, and population health.

Cyber Security the next strategic imperative

As next-generation technologies such as Hybrid Cloud, AI, IoT and Blockchain continue to evolve and become pervasive in a hyper-digitised world, cyber security becomes very critical and is fast becoming a Board level issues in all enterprises, irrespective of size.

Cyber security is now a strategic imperative for all enterprises they must strengthen their digital defence by establishing a zero-trust cyber security environment, one that must be continuously and frequently evaluated, particularly as bad actors continue to get smarter and bolder with technology evolution. In addition, enterprises and governments need the capability to detect and respond to threats at scale. With explosion of data and devices from digital economy there is an exponential increase in the number of devices connecting to the internet and the volume of data that is getting generated. With the evolution of 5G, the attack surface will increase due to increased volume of devices that will get onto the network.

With the emergence of advanced technologies, cyber threats will be more severe. For example, when quantum computers are scalable enough, they will be able to break the major cybersecurity protocols used today. Bad actors are looking to steal data today for breaking into it in the future. Enterprises must consider upgrading their systems to quantum safe cryptography on priority to avoid and protect against these attacks.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

Original post:

Leading in a changing world with Hybrid Cloud and AI, underpinned by security - Times of India

We live in a world characterised by inequality, poverty, economic volatility, globalisation, climate change and ambiguity. In my own country, South Africa, residents have to navigate socioeconomic and political instability, power and water cuts, homelessness, unethical governance and mediocre or no service delivery.

It is a far cry from what the country could be if we brought its best talent and resources to bear for the benefit of humanity.

Innovation will be key to any positive changes and research-intensive universities have a central to play in that innovation. As the University of the Witwatersrand (or Wits, as its commonly known) turns 100, my colleagues and I have been thinking a great deal about the inventions and breakthroughs that have emerged from the university in the past 100 years and what is coming next.

Great innovations have emerged from the work done by Wits researchers that have shifted the dial in sectors ranging from health to computing to quantum and nuclear physics. These rich seams of knowledge continue to inform policy and daily decisions and are the foundation of cutting edge research the institution continues to produce.

On 1 September 1939, Adolf Hitler invaded Poland. World War 2 was underway. Barely three months later, the first radar set was tested on Wits Universitys campus. Britain and its allies were looking for a way to detect enemy aircraft and ships. A group of scientists among them Sir Basil Schonland, Director of the Bernard Price Institute of Geophysical Research and another Wits engineer, Professor Guerino Bozzoli came together to harness the power of radio waves.

Almost a century on, the science of sensors has taken several quantum leaps. Professor Andrew Forbes and his team at Wits are encrypting, transmitting, and decoding data quickly and securely through light beams. He has just secured R54 million for the Wits Quantum Initiative which explores theoretical and experimental quantum science and engineering, secure communications, enhanced quantum-inspired imaging, novel nano and quantum-based sensors and devices.

The university has also come a long way on its computing journey. In 1960 it was the first university in South Africa to own an IBM mainframe computer. Today, in partnership with IBM, were the first African university to access a quantum computer.

Read more: New research proves the long-held theory that lasers can create fractals

As the Chair of the National Quantum Computing Working Group in South Africa, this is an area where I see immense potential for Africa. Classical computing has served society incredibly well. It gave us the Internet and cashless commerce. It sent humans to the moon, put robots on Mars and smartphones in our pockets.

But many of the worlds biggest mysteries and potentially greatest opportunities remain beyond the grasp of classical computers. To continue the pace of progress, we need to augment the classical approach with a completely new paradigm, one that follows its own set of rules - quantum computing.

This radically new way of performing computer calculations is exponentially faster than any classical computer. It can run new algorithms to solve previously unsolvable problems in optimisation, chemistry and machine learning, and its applications are far-reaching from physics to healthcare.

Innovative healthcare is sorely needed across the African continent. Here, too, Wits has been able to play a vital role in the research, teaching and learning, clinical, social and advocacy spheres. It was the first university to lead COVID-19 vaccination trials in South Africa.

Our researchers also developed technology to improve the accurate testing for tuberculosis. And the Pelebox, an invention to cut down the time that patients spend waiting for medication in hospitals.

Elsewhere in the institution, researchers have connected the brain to the internet, used brainwaves to control a robotic prosthetic hand and developed an affordable 3D printed bionic hand.

Research intensive universities in South Africa need to ask the difficult questions about their role in a changing society.

How do we serve as a catalyst for social change? How do we best use our intellectual dynamism and work with the public and private sectors to effect positive change? How do we create new, relevant knowledge and translate it into innovation? How do we best develop critical thinkers, innovators, creators and the high-level skills required to advance our economy, and the future world of work?

How do we quantify our social impact and ensure that it is contextually attuned? How do we influence policy change?

These questions are at the heart of the universitys strategy today. And theyre no doubt being considered across the higher education sector as universities work to harness their collective talent and the resources at their disposal to craft a new future and transform society for the benefit of all humanity.

Here is the original post:

100 years of innovation and inventions: South African vice chancellor reflects on what's next - The Conversation

The autonomous vehicle industry is taking the new quantum leap and advancing growth

The progress of the AI field has wiped out the impossibilities and complexities in global industries. With its development, the traditional boundaries of conventional computing came to light, but AI and its adjoining technologies are working on fixing these complexities. These improved and advanced computing applications are now being used to advance the development and production of autonomous vehicles and 3D dynamic simulations, to name a few. Keeping in mind the advancements in computing, we ought to mention the advancements in the quantum computing domain. Almost every other hi-tech industry, especially the autonomous vehicle industry is planning on taking the quantum leap to improve the potential of AI algorithms in compute-intensive software applications and in autonomous vehicles. This quantum leap has resulted in the rise of quantum vehicles and their adoption is likely to increase.

The use of quantum technology in autonomous vehicles has improved several issues pertaining to the safety and reliability of autonomous vehicles. The autonomous vehicle industry has a long road ahead of itself and integrating quantum computing is supposed to ensure its successful journey. Taking the quantum leap has also enabled autonomous vehicle industry leaders to expand the potential of this evolving technology. Quantum computing can train algorithms while designing autonomous vehicles to enable better safety and fuel efficiency. Furthermore, this quantum leap can be used during vehicle design to produce various improvements such as minimizing drag and improving fuel efficiency. Though quantum computing is still in its infancy, it is already proving beneficial for autonomous vehicles.

Experts believe quantum technology is the key to the success of this industry. Quite recently, the European automobile industry hit the news as its leaders are trying to integrate quantum-based technologies. Even though this initiative is still in its infancy, there are several ways in which the technology can still aid the European automotive industry. There are numerous claims and capabilities of quantum technology, and this latest generation of computing has definitely garnered the attention of a vast number of audiences. Not just the autonomous vehicle industry, but complex fields like chemistry, drug development, and the health sector is also abundantly moving toward the quantum leap.

Share This Article Do the sharing thingy

About Author More info about author

See more here:

Is a Quantum Leap Needed to Save the Autonomous Vehicle Industry? - Analytics Insight

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalized ads or content, and analyze our traffic. By clicking "Accept", you consent to our use of cookies

The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.

The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.

The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.

The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.

Read the original here:

Free Keysight webinars on 5G, Quantum, AI and EV - eeNews Europe