Both high performance computing and quantum computing are among today’s technology trends. What are the impacts of these solutions and technologies for organizations? “Most importantly, companies need to grasp how these solutions can fit into their operational and day-to-day activity,” explain Fateh Amroune and Nicolas Griedlich at Deloitte Luxembourg.
Deloitte Luxembourg recently hosted an event dedicated to supercomputers and quantum computing. According to Fateh Amroune, Director of Innovation (Deloitte Luxembourg) and Nicolas Griedlich, Partner and Artificial Intelligence & Data specialist (Deloitte Luxembourg), both are among today’s technology trends
“Supercomputing solutions are in use in real business applications here in Luxembourg. Governments are investing significantly in these systems, making them accessible to the business world. They are also investing in quantum technologies research”.
What are the impacts of these solutions and technologies for companies? Fateh Amroune and Nicolas Griedlich tackle the challenges and opportunities.
Fateh Amroune, Nicolas Griedlich, you said “quantum computing is still in its infancy”: Why that? And why do governments invest in it today?
Even though quantum computing is still in its infancy, multiple use cases and solutions already benefit from its application today. As “pure” quantum solutions are not currently in use, they typically harness either hybrid approaches (using both classical and quantum steps) or quantum-inspired solutions (where quantum hardware and algorithms are simulated on high-performance classical computers).
Hybrid solutions can be applied to many use cases, such as optimization problems like vehicle routing in logistics, warehouse, and supply chain management, or staffing schedules across industries. They can also help solve machine learning problems like pattern recognition or anomaly detection in financial fraud cases, the simulation of molecules, and chemical or physical processes in material design.
The advantage of starting with hybrid or quantum-inspired approaches is that, once the hardware is ready, the transition to pure quantum will be much quicker and smoother than trying to go from zero to full-scale quantum later.
Today, companies and governments are investing in ways to reach quantum supremacy, which is the ability of a quantum solution to solve problems currently unsolvable by classical computers. Reaching that goal will provide a tremendous competitive advantage.
How does a quantum computer differ from a “traditional” computer?
Quantum computers are not just the next generation of faster classical computers. As their computations are based on different physical principles, a whole new range of problems that are intractable for classical computers becomes addressable.
From database searches to refactoring internet encryption, computational biology, drug design and discovery, and potentially even a new internet, quantum computers can offer new capabilities beyond the reach of traditional computers. Given the disruptive nature of quantum computation, it is very likely that they will have a larger influence on all industries in the upcoming years.
“Regulators may implement a framework for accessing and using quantum computing.”
Nicolas Griedlich, Partner Artificial Intelligence & Data at Deloitte Luxembourg
When is quantum computing expected to mature and become fully operational?
While it is difficult to tell when quantum computing will overtake classic computers, 3 to 5 years seems an optimistic horizon for fully stable and usable quantum computing.
What quantum threats do you see?
The advancement of quantum hardware and software heightens the threat of cyber insecurities. Quantum algorithms could be used to break current encryption schemes. We don’t know when this will happen, but to mitigate the risk of vulnerabilities, it is wise for companies to start assessing their protocols, processes, and encryption schemes, as well as develop a plan to achieve “crypto agility” and migrate to quantum-resistant solutions.
How do you think regulators will adapt to these opportunities and threats?
The regulation is ever evolving, as every time a threat emerges, regulators adapt their response. Let’s take artificial intelligence (AI), for example. When AI started being applied to solutions on the market 10 years ago, no regulation existed to govern its use. When regulators saw potential deviation risks, they produced guidelines to make AI more transparent and provide high-value services. Without this regulation, AI would have been the wild west.
Similarly, regulators may implement a framework for accessing and using quantum computing. But to do this, they need to understand what cyberthreats exist.
Furthermore, companies should constantly be aware of cyber trends and their potential risks to remain cyber-resilient. They should also keep the future cyber risks of quantum computing in mind to ensure their future protection.
How about supercomputing? How mature is the technology and its use?
We started looking at supercomputing 2 years ago, when Meluxina was implemented in Luxembourg. Its hardware can manage significant volumes of data and carry out thousands of billions of operations (or 10 million billion operations) per second. Data-intensive fields like research and economics can especially benefit from High-Performance Computing (HPC), allowing companies to use more powerful computing for their business.
For example, insurance companies need a lot of data and machine power to assess and insure the impacts of climate change. Supercomputing technologies can provide this solution more easily compared to standard PCs.
A supercomputer like Meluxina can also be harnessed by small companies that lack the infrastructure, IT or cybersecurity expertise to host their own. They can use the HPC and its controlled environment to test their new models and solutions, transfer them back to their premises, and then launch them into production.
From a high-level perspective, a supercomputer shares the same type of architecture as regular computers, even with a desktop. How it differs from regular computers is in its performance and size.
We see that companies using supercomputing for simulations are saving time. And, companies are directly using supercomputing, rather than the cloud or in combination, to train their AI model. Supercomputers offer an additional solution for people wanting to perform more analytics on their data.
How can you use this supercomputer?
When a company needs to use Meluxina, it contacts Meluxina’s operator LuxProvide to receive HPC access. Concretely, the company uploads its data on the HPC, either onsite or through a secure interface, to train its model. Once completed, the company can set the model up in its own infrastructure.
“Companies should be aware of today’s supercomputer and tomorrow’s quantum capabilities and tasks.”
Fateh Amroune, Director of Innovation at Deloitte Luxembourg
Why did you organize an event on both these topics, which could seem unrelated at first glance?
We’ve often noticed misconceptions around supercomputing and quantum computing, with many businesses unfamiliar with their similarities and differences. We’ve also realized that companies dealing with high volumes of data were unaware that these technologies and infrastructures were available.
Overall, we believed that companies needed a better awareness of the Luxembourg ecosystem around these topics and where to find these technologies.
Therefore, we co-organized the event with EuroCC and invited supercomputer and quantum experts to discuss supercomputing and quantum computing issues and share their different use cases and solutions.
Who was the event for?
The event aimed to raise awareness for anyone making long-term strategic decisions, such as CEOs, CIOs, security officers or innovation leaders.
What were your suggestions regarding supercomputing and quantum computing?
Identify, test, and understand some use cases, and learn what they can do and when they will be available. Then, when the time comes to implement them, you will already have a good know-how of these technologies.
Companies should be aware of today’s supercomputer and tomorrow’s quantum capabilities and tasks. They should test how quantum computing works for small cases, learn and assess their systems, and start exploring their potential.
Every new technology needs some explaining to understand how to use it. But most importantly, companies need to grasp how these solutions can fit into their operational and day-to-day activity.
