The University of Bristol’s pioneering Smart Internet Lab will work with industry partners to develop the first blueprint for a quantum data centre, as part of UKRI’s £170 million Commercialising Quantum Technologies Challenge.
Quantum technologies, in the form of quantum computing and communications, promise to provide solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems. However, to date, very little has been understood from a systems perspective about how to integrate them with existing data centres.
The Quantum Data Centre of the Future project will commence in early 2022, bringing experts in classical data centres and networking together with experts in quantum computing and quantum communications, to develop the first blueprint for a quantum data centre.
The project will leverage the significant research strengths of the University of Bristol’s High Performance Networks Group in classical data centre, quantum Internet and quantum networking.
Professor Reza Nejabati, Head of High Performance Networks Research Group in the Smart Internet Lab said: “This is a truly exciting initiative. Adapting quantum computing and networksystems to work in a data centre setting will require significant acts of invention and creativity.
“This will bring a more practical light to the field of quantum technologies so they can benefit businesses and support the emergence of new type quantum computing algorithms and applications that will benefit from them far into the future.
“In collaboration with the project partners, we aim to design, develop and demonstrate a solution for integrating a quantum computer in a classical data centre as well as providing remote quantum secure access to quantum computers at scale and in a data centre setting.”
Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, Director of Smart Internet Lab said “Quantum computers and communications systems are often described in isolation, but this misses the possibility for near term value to be created with quantum/classical hybrid systems. In this project, we will be investigating system-level solutions for optical metro quantum networks supporting remote access to quantum computing.
“We are really excited to work with leading industrial and academic partners to connect and integrate our city scale test-bed to remote quantum accelerated data canter and demonstrate its use for future industrial applications.”
