Quantum computing still sounds like science fiction. For many in the business world, it’s not.
Although computers have advanced significantly over the years, they all operate on the same principle: binary mathematics. Quantum computing and qubits represent a new means of computing that will eliminate some of the intractable barriers for high performance computing that have restricted enterprise adoption until now.
New Security Practices
Cryptography is at the center of computer security. By using mathematical formulas that would take thousands of years or longer to solve even when harnessing all of the processing power available on the planet, enterprise users and others can ensure their data is protected. The nature of quantum computing, however, renders these security methods worthless, as quantum computers make breaking these keys trivial. Fortunately, it also provides a solution to this problem, but businesses will need to react fast to ensure they’re not left behind when malicious actors gain access to such powerful compute.
Big Data Analysis
Analyzing large data sets demands significant computing power, and contemporary networks are great at crunching numbers quickly. Quantum computing provides new ways of analyzing data and can perform certain calculations nearly instantaneously. While traditional computers will continue to play a valuable role, enterprise users will need to take advantage of these new advances to make the most of their data processing.
Artificial Intelligence
Quantum computing promises to revolutionize artificial intelligence. AI advances have been largely incremental since the 1960s, with new developments building on tested methods of processing information and deriving meaning. Again, traditional computer architectures will still remain relevant, but this will lead to more human-like thinking remains to be seen, but enterprise users who fail to take advantage of of quantum opportunity risk falling behind competitors.
Logistics
Computers are already playing a central role in logistics management, but quantum computing will truly revolutionize the field. When calculating the optimal transport route, for example, computers can only analyze one possibility per processor at a time. Quantum computing, on the other hand, can potentially examine millions or more routes at once. In addition to offering speed, quantum computing will let artificial intelligence seek out optimizations that add orders of magnitude more complexity. The speed of quantum computing will play a role as well; for example, it will be possible to calculate a route for every customer’s shipment instead of relying on heuristic methods.
