Microsoft’s opens Azure Quantum platform for public preview

Microsoft has announced a public preview of Azure Quantum, a new cloud-based platform. It will be using quantum hardware and software tools from partners like Honeywell Quantum Solutions, IonQ, 1QBit, and others. The new platform went into limited preview in May last year and was only open to a small number of select Microsoft partners and customers, but starting today, anyone interested in quantum computing can start experimenting with the service.

The new service offers a small free allowance to get started but quickly gets expensive. Itcharges $10 per compute hour.Quantum Computing is still in its early days, so the toolsets are also new. Microsoft uses its open-source Quantum Development Kit and its Q# language, as well as its recently announced hardware-agnostic Quantum Intermediate Representation (QIR) intermediate language based on LLVM.

“The transition to Public Preview of Azure Quantum is a key milestone for quantum computing and our ecosystem. This continues the momentum we saw last year, which includes a selection for the National Quantum Initiative Quantum Research Centers, the addition of new Azure Quantum partners, and hardware advances in scaling control circuitry for qubits,” writesKrystaSvore, the GM of Microsoft Quantum.

Apart from Microsoft, IBM and Rigetti are also working on Quantum computing. Microsoft is also relying on partnerships with other players in the space to power this platform. This also allows the company to claim that it offers the “world’s first full-stack, public cloud ecosystem for quantum solutions.”