Quantum clouds
Along with programming languages, widespread research and commercial use of quantum programs requires the fundamental element of cloud access (Gong et al., 2021). These cloud solutions are directly linked to quantum circuits and chips for the final testing and experiments with quantum algorithms.
Cloud access has allowed institutions and individuals to advance their QC exploration. Businesses and universities can now experiment with QC on the cloud regardless of how technology evolves and becomes popular. This began back in 2016, when IBM linked a quantum computer to the cloud and enabled the development and execution of basic cloud-based quantum apps (Castelvecchi, 2017). By 2022, at least 13 well-known companies were offering online access to quantum computers:
- Amazon Braket (AWS)
- Leap (D-Wave)
- IBM Q Experience (IBM)
- Google Quantum AI (Google)
- Xanadu Quantum Cloud (Xanadu)
- Azure Quantum (Microsoft)
- Forest (Rigetti)
- Quantum Inspire...