D-Wave Systems, a company specializing in quantum computers, has announced the general availability of a new model, the D-Wave 2X™. It’s equipped with a new type of processor of which information started getting released some months ago that passes the barrier of 1,000 qubits. This new system is credited of performances unthinkable for classical computers but certainly there will be controversy like the ones that over the years accompanied the D-Wave systems.

The D-Wave 2X™ system is described as a concentration of major scientific and technological advances. First of all, it works at temperatures below 15 millikelvin, very close to absolute zero. In short, the cooling is managed by an equipment very different from the classic fans used in PCs.

The quantum processor contains over 128,000 superconducting tunnel junctions (STJ), constituted by two metal superconductor film separated by a thin layer of insulating material. It’s a type of Josephson junction, so called because the physicist Brian D. Josephson predicted their operation through the passage of current through the junction due to the effect tunnel in 1962.

According to D-Wave Systems, this processor is the most complex among those with semiconductor integrated circuits ever used in production systems. This statement is due not only to the amount of the circuits but also because according to the company its reliability was increased and there was a halving in noise.

In the past there were a number of controversies regarding the characteristics of D-Wave systems. This time the company carried out a series of tests to compare the D-Wave 2X™ system with a classical computer. The results are decisively in favor of this new quantum computer, which in certain cases was hundreds of times faster than a classic one. If you’re interested in the details, D-Wave published an article (the link is to a PDF file!) about the benchmarks methodology.

Comparisons with classical computers are always complex because the methodology can greatly affect the results. The CPU features of the classical computer used in the tests and the possibility that the GPU is also used to perform calculations are crucial factors in a test.

Despite the criticism, D-Wave Systems expressed optimism for its new D-Wave 2X™ system and recently news came about the future of the company. Specifically, statements by the CEO were reported about the company’s intentions to go public. A date hasn’t been established but if the reports will be confirmed that means that there’s the will to do it and that means that there’s a reasonable certainty of getting good business results with their quantum systems.