Rickkins

(actually tried to post this in the 'news' section, but was denied permission)

/http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/News/32705fbc-3608-4bad-9f85-a4c85b9cfe73.html





Quantum computer set for launch
By: Peter Judge
Techworld.com (09 Feb 2007)

Twenty years before most scientists expected it, a commercial company has announced a quantum computer that promises to massively speed up searches and optimization calculations.

D-Wave of British Columbia has promised to demonstrate a quantum computer next Tuesday, that can carry out 64,000 calculations simultaneously (in parallel "universes"), thanks to a new technique which rethinks the already-uncanny world of quantum computing. But the academic world is taking a wait-and-see approach.

D-Wave is the world's only "commercial" quantum computing company, backed by more than US$20 million of venture capital (there are more commercial ventures in the related field of quantum cryptography). Its stated aim is to eventually produce commercially available quantum computers that can be used online or shipped to computer rooms, where they will solve intractable and expensive problems such as financial optimization.

It has been predicted that quantum computing will make current computer security obsolete, cracking any current cryptography scheme by providing an unlimited amount of simultaneous processing resources. Multiple quantum states exist at the same time, so every quantum bit or "qubit" in such a machine is simultaneously 0 and 1. D-Wave's prototype has only 16 qubits, but systems with hundreds of qubits would be able to process more inputs than there are atoms in the universe.

Scientists in the world's many quantum science departments are looking anxiously at whether the demonstration -- linked to a computer museum in Mountain View California, will vindicate their work or cast doubt upon it.

"This is somewhat like claims of cold fusion," said Professor Andrew Steane of Oxford University's Centre for Quantum Computing. "I doubt that this computing method is substantially easier to achieve than any other."

Others are more enthusiastic: "I'll be a bit of a sceptic till I see what they have done," said Professor Seth Lloyd of MIT. "But I'm happy these guys are doing it." Lloyd is one of the scientists who helped develop the "adiabatic" model of quantum computing which D-Wave's system exploits -- a method which D-Wave believes will sidestep the problems which have restricted progress in quantum computing so far.

nCaine

Hehehe im Fan on Quantum computing long time now. But dint see any new info in years. Nice read for me THX.


PS. Ther is Submit News (Members) section in our forum mate posty ther and if it good it find its way to NEWs section very fast.

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Posted..

Mac Daddy

Nice one Rickki me ole friend and as nCaine mentioned the Submit News section you can post too and Rege will move it too the front page if its cool .. looks like it is

Ohhh PPS ...


GO BRUINS !!

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Arklon

Funny that cool fusion was mentioned... we may actually be seeing it soon (and in a form that has a positive net power output).

kYdizzle

i thought most of the scientific community does not subscribe to the idea that tightly packed palladium cathodes could absorb hydrogen and fuse them into helium

but quantum computers would be very cool, could probably be used to generate an AI program? or play 200 billion CS:S games at the same time (would need a quantum graphics card too)

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Arklon

That's just one (theoretical) method...