Quantinuum’s launch is a precursor to the release of its flagship cyber security product in a few weeks. Quantinuum will feature Ilyas Khan as CEO. Tony Uttley will serve as its President and COO. Honeywell CEO Darius Adamczyk will be chairman of Quantinuum. The launch of the quantum notable on a few fronts:
First, Quantinuum is an example of how conglomerates can use spinouts to take on new innovations and fields. Quantinuum is hardware agnostic and will continue to be an IBM Quantum Hub and operate the Quantinuum Model H1 quantum computer powered by Honeywell. The company will also aim to allow access to multiple quantum systems via the cloud. Uttley and Kahn are steering Quantinuum to be more of a collaborative force in quantum computing. In other words, the quantum computing pie is large enough for multiple players, and the industry has to work together to grow. “Quantinuum is an accelerator for the quantum computing ecosystem as a whole,” said Kahn.Cybersecurity is a key area for Quantinuum, and the bet is that quantum computing will impact security first.CIOs and enterprises are starting to explore quantum computing applications.
Constellation Research principal Ray Wang said that quantum computing is likely to enter a period of consolidation. Quantum computing has had a few recent milestones, including:
IBM launches 127-qubit Eagle quantum processor, previews IBM Quantum System TwoThe Honeywell Quantum, Cambridge Quantum deal: A look at the big pictureAWS Braket improves support for hybrid quantum-classical algorithmsAccenture, IonQ work to bring quantum computing to more businesses
The company said that it will have a staff of nearly 400 with 300 engineers and scientists. Quantinuum’s emerging quantum computing stack includes:
Tket, an open-source quantum software development kit. Lambeq, a quantum natural language processing toolkit and library. System Model H1-1 and H1-2 quantum computers powered by Honeywell. A cyber security product will be launched this month. A second product aimed at quantum chemistry is expected in 2022. Additional products aimed at industries such as financial services, logistics and supply chain.
Honeywell owns a majority stake in Quantinuum and will use quantum computing as a proving ground for solving operational problems and technologies. Honeywell said there’s no change to its financial outlook due to the transaction.
