November 21st, 2011

Please see this link for more infomation: D-Wave's Geordie Rose named Canadian Innovator of the Year

October 31st, 2011

Please see this link for more information: A Quantum Leap for a Big, Cold Computer

October 28th, 2011

With the construction of a new quantum computing center at its Information Sciences Institute campus in Marina del Rey, USC charts a new course into the future of computing.

WHAT: USC; Lockheed Martin, Inc.; and D-Wave Systems, Inc. will officially unveil the first commercial and operational quantum computer academic center at USC Viterbi School of Engineering's Information Sciences Institute.

WHO: Dr. Ray Johnson, CTO, Lockheed Martin Dr. Daniel Lidar, Director, USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center
Dr. Geordie Rose, Founder and CTO, D-Wave
Vern Brownell, President and CEO, D-Wave

WHEN: Friday, October 28, at 10:00 A.M.

WHERE: USC Viterbi School of Engineering,
Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 11th Floor
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Validated parking provided, entry off Admiralty Way

ABOUT: Continuing its rich history with pioneering advances in high-performance computing and the Internet, USC is now exploring the promising future of quantum computing. Invoking superconducting technology, USC has constructed a high-fidelity computing center to house D-Wave?'s revolutionary quantum computing chip, recently purchased by Lockheed Martin and provided to USC for its applicability to information technology. USC and Lockheed Martin will work synergistically to explore the potential of the chip, which is at the cutting edge of technological advances.

The D-Wave chip has 128 quantum bits (or 'qubits') which have the capability of encoding the two digits of one and zero at the same time - as opposed to traditional bits, which distinctly encode either a one or a zero. This property, called 'superposition', will allow quantum computing systems to perform complicated calculations exponentially faster than traditional computers. With the construction of the multi-million dollar quantum computing center, USC now has the infrastructure in place to support future generations of quantum computer chips, positioning the school and its partners at the forefront of quantum computing research.

"The USC Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center will open new windows into the fascinating world of quantum computing," said USC Viterbi Dean Yannis C. Yortsos. "It will help advance our understanding of the potential of this new technology and provide a new paradigm in the quest for faster and more secure computing."

CONTACT:
Katie Dunham
knd@usc.edu
(213) 821-5555

About the Viterbi School of Engineering: Engineering Studies began at the University of Southern California in 1905. Nearly a century later, the Viterbi School of Engineering received a naming gift in 2004 from alumnus Andrew J. Viterbi, inventor of the Viterbi algorithm now key to cell phone technology and numerous data applications. Consistently ranked among the top graduate programs in the world, the school enrolls more than 2,100 undergraduate students and 4,200 graduate students, taught by 168 tenured and tenure-track faculty, with 50 endowed chairs and professorships. For more information, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu

May 25th, 2011

VANCOUVER, BC, MAY 25, 2011 - Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) has entered into an agreement to purchase a quantum computing system from D-Wave Systems Inc.

Lockheed Martin and D-Wave will collaborate to realize the benefits of a computing platform based upon a quantum annealing processor, as applied to some of Lockheed Martin's most challenging computation problems. The multi-year contract includes a system, maintenance and associated professional services.

D-Wave develops computing systems that leverage the physics of quantum mechanics in order to address problems that are hard for traditional methods to solve in a cost-effective amount of time. Examples of such problems include software verification and validation, financial risk analysis, affinity mapping and sentiment analysis, object recognition in images, medical imaging classification, compressed sensing and bioinformatics. D-Wave develops an architecture that is optimized for working with such problems.

"D-Wave is thrilled to establish a strategic relationship with Lockheed Martin Corporation," said Vern Brownell, D-Wave's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our combined strength will provide capacity for innovation needed to tackle important unresolved computational problems of today and tomorrow. Our relationship will allow us to significantly advance the potential of quantum computing."

D-Wave was featured May 11, 2011 in the prestigious British scientific journal Nature, where its research on quantum annealing was published.

Lockheed Martin is a global security company with headquarters in Bethesda, Md.

D-Wave's mission is to build quantum computing systems that help solve humanity's most challenging problems. It strives to use the deepest insights of physics and computer science to design new types of computers capable of taking on the world's hardest and most important challenges.

Working with Fortune 500 companies, governments and academia, D-Wave helps to craft solutions to problems where data volume and complexity are overwhelming. Applying D-Wave's unique quantum computing technology, the company aims to dramatically improve results through better understanding and insights.

May 12th, 2011

VANCOUVER, B.C., CANADA - Scientists at D-Wave Systems Inc. of Vancouver have reported the results of experiments designed to test the role quantum mechanics plays in how a new type of processor solves problems, in an article published in the May 12 edition of the prestigious British scientific journal, Nature.

Fabricated using standard integrated circuit processes, the processors tested contained 128 superconducting flux qubits and 24,000 devices known as Josephson junctions, making them among the most complex superconducting circuits ever built. Designed to solve optimization and sampling problems, the processors have been successfully used in a variety of tasks including financial risk analysis, bioinformatics, affinity mapping and sentiment analysis, object recognition in images, medical imaging classification and compressed sensing.

"We've known for some time that these processors are extremely effective at solving the problems they were designed to solve, but this is the first time we've been able to open up the black box and show how they are harnessing quantum mechanics in solving those problems," said Dr. Geordie Rose, D-Wave's Chief Technology Officer.

The scientists focused on a block of circuitry, known as a unit cell, within a processor. The unit cell, one of 16 on the chip studied, comprised eight superconducting flux qubits and 1,500 Josephson junctions. The researchers took a series of 'snapshots' of the behaviour of the unit cell as it underwent a computation, and showed that by using the high degree of control built into the integrated circuit, quantum effects could be precisely controlled as desired by a programmer in order to accelerate computation.

Dr. Mark Johnson, the lead scientist on the project, said: "We're very excited to see the remarkable agreement between what quantum mechanics predicts, and what we see in these circuits."

About D-Wave:

D-Wave's mission is to build quantum computing systems that help solve humanity's most challenging problems. We strive to use the deepest insights of physics and computer science to design new types of computers capable of taking on the world's hardest and most important challenges.

Working with Fortune 500 companies, governments and academia, D-Wave helps to craft solutions to problems where data volume and complexity are overwhelming. Applying D-Wave's unique quantum computing technology, we aim to dramatically improve our customers' results through better understanding and insights.

May 2nd, 2011

VANCOUVER, B.C., CANADA - Today the BC Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) announced the finalists for the 2011 Technology Impact Awards (TIAs). Under the awards theme of 'BC's Mark on the World', the 2011 finalists reaffirm British Columbia's status as a global leaders in clean energy and innovative software solutions, including mobile computing.

"This year we find ourselves celebrating companies who have made substantial gains in technology and market development during one of the most trying business environments in the past 70 years," observed Pascal Spothelfer, President and CEO of the BCTIA. "This year's finalists demonstrate the breadth and depth of the engineering talent found in British Columbia and our ability to attract some of the best and brightest in the world", Spothelfer added. "They have continued the trend of BC companies creating solutions that are benefiting people and companies around the world."

The finalists represent a broad range of technologies including enterprise, mobile and social media software; power electronics, imaging and microprocessor hardware, including quantum processing; and unique lighting and hybrid Stirling/Thermoacoustic devices. Their solutions can be found in a number of environments including healthcare, retail, financial services, research labs, telecommunications, green building and power utilities.

The Technology Impact Awards are broken into three groups: Technology Awards, Company Awards, and Personal Recognition Awards. D-Wave was amongst the chosen finalists in the "Excellence in Product Innovation" category.

BCTIA awards page