IBM has launched a quantum data center in Germany.
The company this week announced the launch of the facility, at IBM's campus in Ehningen near Stuttgart, in a ceremony attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Plans for the facility were first announced last year. It is IBM's second quantum data center, the other is located in New York. It features three systems - one based on IBM's Heron processor, alongside two other new systems that will be made available to customers through IBM's cloud service.
Introduced late last year, IBM’s Heron quantum processors offer 156 qubits. The company recently installed two other Heron-based systems at its New York facility, joining more than a dozen other quantum computers.
“In the past several years, our team has worked to deploy multiple generations of quantum systems with increasingly advanced performance," said an IBM spokesperson. "We look forward to expanding this quest further with our clients accessing the new systems in Europe’s first IBM Quantum Data Center, and discovering the vast potential of quantum computers across materials design, sustainability, life sciences, finance, and other areas.”
Users of the systems in the new data center are enterprises and research institutions including Credit Mutuel, Bosch, E.ON, Volkswagen, and the University of the Basque Country.
“Our collaboration with IBM for the ‘scaling’ phase of quantum computing is progressing according to plan. We are working to develop concrete applications that improve the experience of our customer and members, and create value for the Group's businesses,” said Frantz Rublé, president of Euro-Information and deputy CEO of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale.
“The availability of this quantum data center on European soil addresses our constraints in terms of processing proximity and regulatory compliance. And it also means we can look forward to the next stages of the quantum project with confidence at Crédit Mutuel, CIC, and then at Targobank.”
IBM also offers on-premise or dedicated hosted quantum systems for customers. The company has deployed an on-premise system at US healthcare provider Cleveland Clinic’s HQ in Cleveland, Ohio; the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York; and at the Fraunhofer Society’s facility outside Stuttgart, Germany.
More on-premise/hosted deployments are planned or have been deployed in Spain, Canada, Japan, and South Korea.
