Big Names in Quantum Computing
In 2015, the US National Security Agency (NSA) announced the plans for the
transition to post-quantum cryptographic algorithms: “Unfortunately, the growth of elliptic curve use has bumped up against the fact of continued progress in the research on quantum computing, which has made it clear that elliptic curve cryptography is not the long-term solution many once hoped it would be.”;
In 2016, IBM provided the first cloud-based quantum computer, IBM Q, with five qubits, accessible to anyone who wants to practice quantum programming;
In 2016, Intel engineers announced the work on a quantum processor with millions of qubits;
In 2016, Google Chrome developers implemented the post-quantum key exchange algorithm New Hope and in 2017 Google predicted the commercialization of quantum technology within the next five years;
Nov 2017 IBM claims to be first company to have built a 50-qubit processor. And their 20-qubit system available through cloud computing platform.
Sep 2017 Google Blueprint for Quantum Supremacy — ability of quantum computers to outperform classical ones. This goal is firmly on company’s sights now.
In April 2018, the developers implemented the post-quantum algorithm of the XMSS digital for the OpenSSH 7.7 update;
In June 2018, Microsoft added post-quantum key exchange algorithms and
signatures to their OpenVPN fork.
December 2018, Chemists synthesise molecule as possible component for quantum computers. The team of chemists in Jena is convinced that their molecule fulfils the requirements for being used as a qubit. However, it is difficult to foresee whether it really will have a future use as a computing unit. This is because it is not yet definitely known how molecules will actually be integrated into quantum computers. Chemical expertise is also needed to achieve this and the experts in Jena are ready to face the challenge.
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