IBM Gets One Step Ahead than Google in Quantum Computing

A whole new era of of quantum computing has started.Google had developed the new quantum computer, D-Wave that would let a Google coder run calculations in a coffee break that would take a supercomputer of today millions of years. Similarly, IBM scientists are making a quantum computer available to the public as a cloud service for the first time. This cloud computing service is geared mostly for scientists, students and for anyone interested in this strange computing.

Unlike traditional computers that uses zero(0) and one(1) for processing the information, a quantum computer uses "combinations of zeroes and ones" to creates multiple states. It can be a zero, a one, both at the same time, something in between them, or it can be a mysterious zero/one state that you can't really determine, Chow, IBM quantum computer scientist explains. These messy states are called "entanglement" and there are some well known algorithms (mathematical formulas) that use them, Chow tells us.

As the quantum computer thinks differently, they can solve many problems that a regular computer can't like working with billions of variables at a same time. So they are extremely faster than our regular computers. They are great for machine learning tasks. These computers are expected to help find new drugs, new forms of computer security, and become smart computers that can think and reason.

Quantum computers are also built differently. This one uses a silicon base, like regular computers, but relies on superconducting metals like niobium and aluminum that must be kept unbelievably cold. The low temperature brings out their special quantum mechanical properties.

So it's kept in a special fridge that keeps the computer at ".015 above absolute zero, which is colder than absolute space," Chow says.