In the span of one generation, quantum computers have gone from thought experiments to globally deployed commercial products on the verge of becoming a standard tool in high-performance computing (HPC). Much early motivation in (and funding for) developing practical quantum computers resulted from Peter Shor's discovery of an efficient quantum algorithm for factorization—thereby threatening the RSA encryption standard. If today's quantum computing manufacturers achieve their roadmaps, RSA-2048 will be broken within the next few years. Beyond a sea change for encrypted communications globally, this heralds the arrival of a new era of HPC workflows and the possibility of solving heretofore unsolvable problems. In this talk, we will discuss the current state of research into what applications might come online first, the nascent ecosystems for delivering them, and the call to action to all developers to prepare for Q-Day and beyond!

In the span of one generation, quantum computers have gone from thought experiments to globally deployed commercial products on the verge of becoming a standard tool in high-performance computing (HPC). Much early motivation in (and funding for) developing practical quantum computers resulted from Peter Shor's discovery of an efficient quantum algorithm for factorization—thereby threatening the RSA encryption standard. If today's quantum computing manufacturers achieve their roadmaps, RSA-2048 will be broken within the next few years. Beyond a sea change for encrypted communications globally, this heralds the arrival of a new era of HPC workflows and the possibility of solving heretofore unsolvable problems. In this talk, we will discuss the current state of research into what applications might come online first, the nascent ecosystems for delivering them, and the call to action to all developers to prepare for Q-Day and beyond!