IBM’s next step forward will be based in Poughkeepsie.

Big Blue’s IBM Q System One is an integrated quantum computing system that the company says is optimized for commercial clients to access the burgeoning technology.

And, the company says it will be utilized at the first IBM Q Computation Center, opening in Poughkeepsie.

The announcement, made earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, was a boon for the region, according to Dutchess County officials, who envision business leaders from around the world visiting the center.

The Q System, IBM says, is "designed to one day tackle problems that are currently seen as too complex and exponential in nature for classical systems to handle.”

While IBM first unveiled the technology in 2016, the Q System is designed "for stability, reliability and continuous commercial use" which, for the first time, the company says, allows for "superconducting quantum computers to operate beyond the confines of the research lab."

And they will do that in Poughkeepsie.

At the planned Computation Center, researchers will get to work with “some of the world’s most advanced cloud-based quantum computing systems,” according to IBM.

“The significance of this investment can’t be overstated,” Dutchess County Assistant Executive Ron Hicks told the Journal. “It’s putting Poughkeepsie once again on the map as a technological hub.”

IBM didn’t say how much money it’s investing in Poughkeepsie or when the facility could be complete.

IBM's Poughkeepsie site, which was already known for producing the popular Z mainframe, is “positioned to be one of the few places in the world with the technical capabilities, infrastructure and expertise to run a quantum computation center,” according to IBM.

The center will be available to the IBM Q network, a group that includes business leaders like Fortune 500 companies, startups and academic institutions.

Hicks said, “It is our hope that some of these companies will find it convenient to invest in close proximity to this center.”

The facility, as well as the system, are intended to make quantum computing more widely available.

“The IBM Q System One is a major step forward in the commercialization of quantum computing,” Director of IBM Research Arvind Krishna said in a press release announcing the new system and Poughkeepsie facility. “This new system is critical in expanding quantum computing beyond the walls of the research lab as we work to develop practical quantum applications for business and science.”

Jack Howland: jhowland@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4870; Twitter: @jhowl04

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