Alice & Bob Launches Consulting Unit to Support Quantum Applications

French quantum hardware startup Alice & Bob has launched a consulting unit called The Box to help customers develop quantum strategies that focus on practical applications using current quantum hardware.

The Box has begun working with consultancies and businesses to develop roadmaps to integrate today’s noisy, intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices into their working practices and prepare for more powerful future processors.

One of its clients is a multinational automobile company exploring the use of quantum molecular simulation to find sustainable alternatives for scarce metals used in batteries for electric vehicles and fuel cells for hydrogen cars.

Another is a global energy company focusing on quantum catalyst optimization to significantly reduce the production costs of future renewable fuels.

“The Box was created to address a specific need in the ecosystem for expert advice drawing from deep technical experience and business acumen,” said Alice & Bob CEO and co-founder Théau Peronnin.

“Our efforts aim to support businesses in their journey towards developing and implementing quantum solutions on whichever hardware suits their needs best.”

According to Perronin, The Box works by assessing, identifying and prioritizing scalable use cases for each client to develop strong business strategies based on the market and technological potential. The consultancy aims to enable organizations to extract more business value from quantum technology as it develops over time.

Related:Alice & Bob Raises $30 in Series A Funding

“Our team provides winning strategies based on first-hand experience and research across the quantum landscape,” said Alice & Bob quantum and business strategy manager Linde Hansen. “First-movers who develop resource-efficient, solution-specific algorithms are expected to capture the most value from quantum computing.”

Alice & Bob’s hardware development is focused on ‘cat qubits’ – superconducting quantum bits with built-in error correction that the company says reduce the hardware requirements for effective quantum computing. But The Box intends to support customers accessing any quantum hardware.

“Our roadmap focuses on a new, faster path to fault tolerance, that skips any intermediate steps of error-prone quantum prototypes,” said Peronnin. “Since we don’t currently offer hardware for commercial use in the NISQ era, The Box team can be truly hardware agnostic regarding the advantages and risks of the full range of quantum hardware and software solutions for organizations, laying the groundwork for future fault-tolerant quantum applications.”

Several multinational consulting businesses, including EY, Deloitte and Capgemini, now offer quantum computing services.