Exploring Infosys Quantum Living Labs
We cannot fight the new-age wars with old-age weapons. Likewise, we cannot solve new-age problems solely with the power of classical computers - it needs a significant upgrade. Quantum Computing is a fundamentally new way of solving problems that are either exponential in nature or complex data processing and procedures (e.g., NP-hard problems) with relative ease. With more and more Fortune 500 companies already investing in quantum technology, it is rapidly and steadily becoming mainstream and stands to change companies, entire industries, and the world. Now is the right time to invest in building the infrastructure for this emerging opportunity of the future.
To help businesses future-proof themselves, Quantum Living Labs - an initiative by Infosys - offers innovative solutions to its clients by leveraging quantum technology to help them accelerate innovation in this ever-increasing competitive environment. Infosys Quantum Living Labs (QLL) explores the limitless possibilities and transformation for the client's business through the all-powerful quantum computing technology. With that objective, Infosys invites clients across industries to explore the ‘art-of-the-possible’ through quantum computing.
Our Client Interactions
We also had some initial conversations with a few major industry players from different industries around use case exploration and proof of concept development. Below are a few of them:
- Beverage Client: They approached with interest around a logistic problem statement called vehicle routing optimization. The objective was to determine the best route for their delivery trucks to drop off or refill their vending machines across the specified locations. This is a typical travelling-salesman problem where complexity increases exponentially with every additional variable - so quantum is an excellent match for this problem. We developed a proof of concept for a vehicle route optimization problem and delivered improvement in overall efficiency, including distance, cost, and time.
- Oil and Gas Client: Their interest was around an environmental problem called carbon capture and storage. For this, we collaborated with our startup partner QPiAI to create a proof of concept on Carbon Capture, Storage, Transportation, and Utilization Optimization. The objective was to capture the carbon produced by the factories and efficiently transport and deposit it in the earth’s crust. The solution we developed can simulate the data with 1250 sinks and 40 sources for 50+ years and would reduce the logistic cost by more than 60% and overall project cost by approximately 36%.
- Telecom Client: Unlike previous conversations, they were more interested in our potential and what quantum can achieve in the telecom industry. We explored fiber rollout optimization, where fiber optics has to be spread out efficiently across the location. The optimal placement of the splitter and central offices is determined to cover a designated area which results in the optimal use of fiber cables leading to efficient cost savings. We sent out a proposal outlying our capabilities, including the capabilities of our partner ecosystem.
- Energy Client: The clients were interested in exploring the potential of quantum technology and possible use cases in the energy and utility industry. We shared a few compelling potential use cases for their industry, which included optimal station placement, decentralized energy & grid resilience, protection from cyber-attacks, and disaster readiness.
Infosys Quantum Living Labs
Under the QLL offering, we provide access to industry-leading subject matter experts (SMEs) for the whole duration of the engagement to help the client explore the technology in the form of design thinking sessions, webinars, etc. We also help experience the technology and the industry to find the perfect solution(s) for the client that would fit perfectly and get them an edge over their competitors. These exploratory engagements usually span 6-8 weeks but can be shortened or extended, given the requirements. To further this engagement, we help the client develop the proof of concept for the envisioned solution. After that, we start working on the actual full-scale implementation of the solution with the help of our partner ecosystem.
The activities mentioned above are a part of Quantum Living Lab (QLL) offered by Infosys, and they can be accessed as a whole or customized according to the client’s requirements. We would help and assist the clients by spreading awareness and training the employees through sessions, webinars, and targeted training with the help of our industry partners, Lex courses, and expert guidance. We also provide access to quantum infrastructure and a sandbox environment for our client to learn, experiment and code. Use case exploration is another critical phase, where we work with the client and identify relevant use cases in their industry and area of interest. These use cases would further move towards the development stage, where we will help/assist in developing the proof of concepts and showcases which could be hosted in the client environment. To make all this possible, we have our partners providing their constant support. Partners like AWS and IBM provide quantum hardware technology for us to perform experiments and run the code we have developed. Along with quantum hardware, researchers from our partners also help us in our journey.
In this journey, startup partners also help us develop quantum solutions/proof of concepts and spread awareness/training. Innovative startups working on emerging technologies across the globe have been onboarded on Infosys Innovation Network (IIN) to help our clients accelerate innovation. QPiAI, QCWare, and Quintessence Labs have already been onboarded to help/assist our clients in their quantum journey, and we are continuously onboarding more startups.
Amazon Braket Capabilities
Infosys has been using Amazon Braket since September 2021 to support researchers and developers to experiment and study complex computational problems. Amazon Braket is a fully managed quantum computing service designed to help speed up scientific research and software development for quantum computing. Amazon Braket provides access to quantum computers, quantum circuit simulators, fully managed execution of hybrid quantum-classical algorithms and Jupyter notebook development environments with pay-as-you-go pricing options. Amazon Braket has partnered with hardware providers, such as Gate-based ion-trap processors (IONQ), Gate-based superconducting processors (Rigetti, OQC), Neutral atom-based quantum processors (QuEra), and Photonic quantum computers (Xanadu) to make hardware accessible to quantum developers and researchers on a pay as you go basis.
We issued a press release where we talked about leveraging Amazon Braket’s capabilities to explore and develop quantum capabilities and aim at getting businesses ready for a future where quantum computers will impact business. We have also executed joint GTM activities, like the fireside chat between Richard Moulds, GM, Amazon Braket and Prasad Joshi, SVP and Head Infosys Center for Emerging Technology Solutions. In this chat, the two thought leaders talked about how Quantum Computing (QC) is gaining widespread visibility and how enterprises expect quantum hardware processing power to drive the next wave of disruption and deliver enormous benefits.
Infosys also developed use case prototypes which have shown significant improvement compared to their classical counterpart. We developed a proof of concept for quantum vehicle routing and portfolio optimization, and arbitrage, where we have seen a significant improvement compared to their classical counterpart. The team also participated in and completed the training provided by Amazon Braket to enhance their skills and expertise. Braket also credits coupons to the team to work easily without restrictions.
What we can do – Call for Action
We invite everyone to explore the potential of quantum technology and identify use cases around their industry. With our talent and talents from our partner ecosystem, we will develop a proof of concept for you and later move towards a full-scale development of quantum capabilities. As we all know, quantum technology is still at a nascent stage, but most prominent industry leaders have already started working on it, and if we delay catching the quantum train now, it will be too late.
Do write us at quantumcomputing@infosys.com to connect and take this conversation forward.
