Examining Classical-Quantum Hybrid Computing
Using the IBM Qiskit Runtime Emulator, Dell Technologies’ Platform Models Quantum Applications
Dell will need to exponentially increase the compute capacity through a variety of distributed, diverse computing architectures that work together as a system, including the constantly developing field of quantum computing, in order to meet the demands of the ever-increasing amount of data in today’s digital economy.
Potential acceleration for simulation, optimisation, and machine learning method application cases is provided by quantum computation. As IT teams around the world begin to investigate how quantum computing will affect operations in the future, there is a widespread misconception that the quantum computer will replace all classical computing and that it can only be accessed locally or remotely via a physical quantum device.
At this point in the development of the technology, it is actually possible to replicate important aspects of the quantum environment using classical resources. This makes the technology more accessible to IT leaders interested in learning more and those who have started and want to improve their algorithms. An emulator mimics both the quantum and classical aspects of a quantum system, while a simulator replicates solely the quantum aspects.
Dell Technologies evaluated a hybrid emulation platform using the Dell PowerEdge R740xd and IBM’s open-source quantum computer containerised service Qiskit Runtime. Using an emulator, the platform enables the user to locally duplicate Qiskit Runtime and investigate how quantum applications will function.
“This hybrid emulation platform is a significant advancement for the Qiskit Ecosystem and the quantum industry overall,” stated IBM’s Vice President of Quantum Jay Gambetta. The platform makes it simpler for both novice and seasoned quantum developers to create and improve their algorithms by enabling users to work with Qiskit Runtime on their own classical resources. Dell are eager to collaborate with Dell in order to broaden the quantum industry’s scope.
With the help of quantum technology, the Qiskit Runtime environment can complete calculations that would have taken weeks in a single day. The technology used in the Qiskit project is fully open source, enabling third-party developments and integrations to advance the sector. The hybrid emulation platform will speed up algorithm development and use case discovery while also assisting in increasing accessibility to the developer ecosystem.
The tested solution’s complete details can be seen on GitHub. The following are some of the main conclusions drawn from the testing:
Fast Setup The platform uses cloud-native technologies like Kubernetes to carry out both conventional and quantum computation. Deploying to on-premises infrastructure is simple for customers. In the past, customers had to send their workloads and data to be processed over the cloud.
Quicker Time to Outcome It is no longer necessary to run and queue up each quantum circuit separately. Algorithms’ classical components are closely combined with quantum resources to boost performance and reduce development time.
Increased Security Data and workloads do not need to be sent to a third party since classical computing, which includes data processing, optimisation, and algorithm execution, may be carried out on-premises, offering significantly improved privacy and security.
Choice and Cost Effectiveness Utilising the potential with an on-premise infrastructure solution could result in increased cost effectiveness and advantages over conventional cloud service providers. Additionally, because this model can be performed using the Qiskit Aer simulator or other similar systems, it offers flexibility in selecting quantum solutions.
Classical infrastructure, which includes conventional servers and desktops along with storage, networking, GPUs, and FPGAs, must also expand to accommodate the increasing workload volumes for quantum computing. The hybrid emulation platform is precisely what IT directors require in order to effectively mimic both quantum and conventional calculations on their current infrastructure.
Dell Qiskit Runtime
One Qiskit Runtime platform that can run classical-quantum code in both local and on-premise settings is Qiskit Dell Runtime. This platform allows for the development and execution of hybrid classical-quantum code bundles. This execution model, which is powered by the Qiskit Runtime API, offers a close integration of quantum and classical execution.
This platform allows for the integration of different simulation, emulation, and quantum hardware. With Qiskit, developers may abstract their source code, making it easy to transfer execution across execution contexts.
Currently, both Windows and Linux have been used to test the Qiskit-Dell-Runtime.
Getting Started with Qiskit
A platform for executing hybrid classical-quantum computations in both local and remote execution contexts is the Qiskit Dell Runtime. It is advised that you have some prior Qiskit familiarity before beginning to use the platform.
Architecture
Both server-side and client-side provider components are offered by this platform.
Qiskit Architecture
Provider on the client side
On client devices, users would have to install the DellRuntimeProvider. The provider can be used right out of the box and is set to local execution by default. Additionally, this provider can be used to connect to server-side platforms, allowing users to control servers and perform tasks using the same API.
Components on the server side
In order to provide a lightweight execution environment for server-side components, this platform features a simple design. It has a long-running microservice called Orchestrator that responds to DellRuntimeProvider queries.
A new pod will be built at runtime to execute both classical and vQPU workloads when a user starts a job.
A database will hold all of the user-uploaded code and execution parameters. This platform comes with a MySQL deployment by default. Please review these installations for database settings if users would like to change the database to a different database service.
SSO
To make it simple for users to create a sandbox environment, SSO integration is turned off by default. The platform already has integration hooks built in enabling simple integration with a number of SSO systems.
Multi-Backend Support
The Qiskit Aer simulation engine will process the quantum execution by default. By entering backend-name in the task input field, users can change the quantum backend. Multiple Qiskit backends, such as additional emulation, simulation, and QPU backends, can be supported by modifying the code.
Simulation vs. Emulation
Emulation engines compute the results of algorithms using deterministic computations, whereas simulation engines use quantum circuits to quantify probabilistic outcomes.
Depending on the backend being used, the Hybrid Emulation Platform can handle both simulation and emulation.
If you would like additional information about when it might be better to employ simulation or emulation over the other, you can read about the VQE example in the documentation or in a Qiskit tutorial.
