HAMPTON, N.H. – While IBM (NYSE: IBM) unveiled this week its Q Network for quantum computing development and utilization, commercial terms are a work in progress.

IBM Q

Differences in the commercial terms for participating as a hub, partner or member in the IBM Q Network were not precisely disclosed. TBR believes the lack of clarity stems from the idiosyncratic nature of the wants and needs of the participating members. There is a need for the broader development and curation of quantum computing standards around the programming languages and API connectors back to the body of classical computing IP as well as the development of applicable academic course material to prepare the next generation of computer
programmers familiar with quantum computing.

Conversely, participating members will want to develop IP value for their competitive advantage and not necessarily contribute to open communities. Therefore, the sharing and participation arrangements will remain highly negotiable interactions between IBM and the participating members. Expect open contributions on the underlying mechanics and process best practices, while the industry-specific algorithms and insights will likely be more tightly held by the commercial members participating in the IBM Q Network.

IBM remains at the tip of the spear on disruptive technology commercialization

IBM arguably remains in the midst of creating markets for a multitude of disruptive technologies set to transform economic activity in ways that will make such activity unrecognizable in a few short decades. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty describes IBM as a cognitive and cloud company, which are two sides of the same coin.

Layer in IBM initiatives around blockchain and Internet of Things, and there is a host of new, accretive market opportunities in IBM’s line of sight for its dramatically transformed product portfolio, which is far less reliant on hardware now than at any time in the company’s history.

Cognitive already has data sets and theoretical algorithms incapable of being performed on current classical computing architectures. Quantum activity, then, provides the bursting capability for these new computing demands that advances cognitive in what IBM most certainly hopes will be a virtuous cycle revolving around the broader IBM ecosystem built on its decades of pure research that has delivered “Watson for X” and IBM Q to
market in these early development stages. The evolving developments have profound implications for IBM as well as its competitors, partners and customers:

IBM implications:

Making markets is an expensive and painstaking proposition. Lessons learned from early adopters have to be quickly turned into repeatable frameworks and scaled out to the early majority of users in easy-to-consume services. Enticing research institutions to begin working on their generalpurpose quantum platform not only broadens market awareness but also establishes IBM quantum IP as the baseline for future graduates entering the workforce with technical degrees that will be integral to the early success of the technology as it evolves into commercial readiness.

Similarly, early collaboration with leading-edge enterprises will provide IBM with the industry domain knowledge necessary for building out
the requisite tailored support services to drive quantum adoption further into the enterprise with early majority companies just beginning their explorations of the technology as member participants in the IBM Q Network.

Competitor implications:

Few of IBM’s peers have the financial assets and IP knowledge to build out competing solutions. Many of its competitors can likely evolve into partners within the broader IBM Q ecosystem to provide quantum programming skills and overall orchestration and integration services to
stitch quantum computing into the overall cloud delivery services they provide to their legacy customer base.

For those working on competing quantum processing architectures, these competitors will have to play close attention to the leading academic institutions and commercial enterprises placing large investments on participating in the IBM Q Network. Few firms will have the resources to invest in competing quantum alternatives at the dawn of this computing era.

Partner and customer implications:

Long-standing IBM partners and customers have familiarity with how IBM operates. In collaborating with IBM, the partners and customers will be able to rely on the broader IBM Q Network for base-level advancements in the underlying quantum processing platform, knowing one of the largest and most advanced research entities in the world is focused on its advancement while focusing their efforts on the domain-specific outcomes quantum computing can accelerate.

(C) TBR