Supermarket aisles filled with fresh produce are probably not where you would expect to discover some of the first benefits of quantum computing.SPECIAL FEATURESpecial Report: The CIO’s guide to Quantum computing (free PDF)Quantum computers offer great promise for cryptography and optimization problems. ZDNet explores what quantum computers will and won’t be able to do, and the challenges we still face.Read MoreBut Canadian grocery chain Save-On-Foods has become an unlikely pioneer, using quantum technology to improve the management of in-store logistics. In collaboration with quantum computing company D-Wave, Save-On-Foods is using a new type of computing, which is based on the downright weird behaviour of matter at the quantum level. And it’s already seeing promising results.The company’s engineers approached D-Wave with a logistics problem that classical computers were incapable of solving. Within two months, the concept had translated into a hybrid quantum algorithm that was running in one of the supermarket stores, reducing the computing time for some tasks from 25 hours per week down to mere seconds.
Source: Quantum computers are coming. Get ready for them to change everything | ZDNet
