Quantum computing took two concrete steps toward real-world use this week, one in a national research lab and one on the commercial market.
Italy's CINECA supercomputing center has switched on two quantum computers in Bologna, according to Data Center Dynamics. The systems are part of ICSC — the National Research Centre in High Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing — which inaugurated both machines this month. The move signals Europe's continued push to build sovereign quantum infrastructure rather than rely entirely on cloud access to foreign systems.
On the commercial side, French startup Alice & Bob announced it will offer an on-premise quantum computer called the Helium Quantum System. "For the first time, a company is making an integrated cat-qubit quantum system available for on-premise installation," the company said, per Data Center Dynamics. Cat qubits are a hardware approach designed to suppress certain types of errors, which is one of the central engineering challenges holding quantum computing back from practical use.
The on-premise angle matters: most quantum computing today is accessed remotely through cloud services, which limits who can use it and how. Putting a system directly inside an organization's own facility opens the door for industries with strict data-privacy requirements — finance, defense, pharmaceuticals — to experiment with quantum hardware on their own terms.
Together, these announcements reflect a broader shift in quantum computing from lab curiosity to deployable infrastructure, a transition that could eventually reshape fields from drug discovery to logistics optimization.