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What are the infrastructures needed to build a cloud quantum computing service like IBM Q Experience?

It seems this is not a trivial task. IQX has been running for more than 3 years and yet it is taking ages for Google to come up with one.

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    $\begingroup$ you "just" build your quantum device locally, which will mean that some (classical) computer will be wired to the device to read the measurement outcomes. After that, you just do whatever you normally do to connect the classical computer to the internet in such a way to have it accessible to other people. If you are thinking that a "quantum computer on the cloud" means that there is some "quantumness" in the connection itself, that's not the case. The way you interact with, say, ibmq, is purely classical. $\endgroup$
    – glS ♦
    Nov 28, 2019 at 12:18

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To have a cloud computing quantum service you need to automate all layers and communication between layers in the quantum system stack: Full quantum system

Source: "The engineering challenges in quantum computing" by Almudever et al.

I am sure Google would be able to do this, but for now they are not focusing on this. This gives them the advantage to put all their efforts into proof of concept experiments such as the quantum supremacy demo.

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  • $\begingroup$ Hi, Peter. Welcome to Quantum Computing SE! Please add the source for the image. $\endgroup$
    – Sanchayan Dutta
    Nov 28, 2019 at 15:42
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the answer. I would be interested to read up on the paper where you found this image. But I don't think IQX implemented all the layers shown in the image, certainly not error corrections. $\endgroup$
    – Junye Huang
    Nov 28, 2019 at 15:53
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    $\begingroup$ No, IBM indeed did not implement QEC or QEX. A more recent paper that is relevant is one from IBM in which they motivate their work on cloud quantum computing: Challenges and Opportunities of Near-Term Quantum Computing Systems. $\endgroup$
    – Peter-Jan
    Nov 28, 2019 at 16:35
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    $\begingroup$ All of this is just about building a programmable and practical quantum computer, not about how to connect it to the cloud $\endgroup$
    – glS ♦
    Nov 29, 2019 at 2:37

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