ZDNet: Microsoft’s Quantum Cloud Computing Plans Take Another Big Step Forward

(ZDNet) Azure Quantum, the public cloud ecosystem dedicated to quantum applications developed by Microsoft, is now available for public preview. The Redmond giant has urged developers and researchers in the field to start using the platform’s cloud services to explore, build and test applications of quantum technologies that could transform a wide range of industries.
Since Microsoft’s Build event last year, Azure Quantum has been in limited preview, and developers from select companies have been piloting the platform for the past few months.
“With Azure Quantum Public Preview, we’re opening up the technology to the broader ecosystem,” Julie Love, senior director at Microsoft Quantum, told ZDNet. “This means that developers, researchers, systems integrators, and customers can use it to learn and build.”
Azure Quantum’s ecosystem also comes with software packages to help developers get started with writing quantum applications. “Quantum computing research is enabled in Azure Quantum by a rich set of tools ranging from the QDK and the Q# programming language for quantum,” said Love. “The Q# programming language is a high-level modern language that promises long-lasting, durable code, meaning that your code will work across different types of quantum hardware and on future quantum systems.”
Microsoft has started working on quantum applications in chemistry, and recently published some research on using quantum computers to design a catalyst that could take carbon out of the atmosphere.