D-Wave Systems launches Leap 2 cloud service for hybrid quantum applications

What comes after a quantum leap? For Burnaby, B.C.-based D-Wave Systems, it’s Leap 2, the latest iteration of its cloud-based quantum computing service.

• Leap 2 builds on 18 months’ worth of experience with D-Wave’s Leap service, built on the foundation of the company’s 2000Q quantum annealing computer. The upgraded service has a hybrid solver that lets users take on complex problems with up to 10,000 variables, using a blend of quantum and classical cloud resources, plus a problem inspector that lets developers use visual tools to map their problems onto the quantum processing unit.

• There’s an expanded Quantum Application Environment and an Integrated Developer Environment with a prebuilt, configured Ocean SDK for quantum hybrid Python development. Leap 2 is also designed to play well with D-Wave’s next-generation, 5,000-qubit Advantage computing system, due for release later this year.

• The quantum cloud upgrade is aimed at keeping pace with similar services such as Microsoft’s Azure Quantum service and Amazon Web Services’ Amazon Braket platform (which has D-Wave as a partner). D-Wave will delve more deeply into Leap 2’s new features during a “sneak preview” webinar scheduled for 10 a.m. PT Thursday.

More from GeekWire:

• Japan’s NEC to invest $10M in D-Wave Systems as part of collaboration on hybrid quantum computing

• D-Wave’s quantum computing cloud service is now available for developer experiments

• AWS launches Amazon Braket service as part of broad quantum computing initiative

• D-Wave unveils name of next-gen quantum system (with weapons lab as customer)