Press release
Q-CTRL Delivers Autonomous Calibration Solutions to Enable Rapid Integration with Ecosystem Partners QuantWare & TreQ
May 6, 2025
Build superior quantum computers
Move faster with the most powerful control design
and hardware automation solution for the quantum era.
Our clients
The problem
Demand for quantum computing is growing. Can you keep up?
Discover how Boulder Opal supports every stage of your quantum journey, from early exploration to large-scale deployment.
Untamed gate errors suppress hardware performance
Overcoming fickle hardware to achieve higher gate fidelities is key to building the next generation of quantum devices
Process inefficiencies limit the pace of innovation and productization
Onerous, manual tuning tasks slow progress and increase development costs, holding you back from quantum advantage
Research systems fail to meet customer expectations
Whether on the cloud, or on-prem, the industry needs utility-scale systems that work at the push of a button, every time.
The solution
AI-powered quantum control software to accelerate your hardware to quantum advantage
Boulder Opal delivers the best in “AI-for-Quantum” to help uncover true hardware performance at all stages of the quantum computing journey:
- Researchers can Design control strategies using a toolset that covers theoretical and experimental gate optimization workflows.
- Hardware teams can Automate control routines with complete solutions for consistent device and calibration data delivery.
- Quantum product teams and users can Deploy solutions that allows anyone to use this game-changing technology.
<5min
Time to integration
>99.9%
1-qubit gate fidelities
<4 hours
Time to device bring-up
Choose the path for your quantum workflows
Explore how Boulder Opal supports all stages of your quantum journey - from early exploration to large-scale deployment. See what solution is right for you:
Design
Solve fundamental quantum hardware and control problems
Researchers at the cutting-edge of quantum computing innovation need to evaluate new hardware concepts with effective quantum control processes. Boulder Opal provides the connected theoretical and experimental building blocks to accelerate these design workflows with a comprehensive control toolkit.
Model large, complex system states with speed and accuracy.
Uncover critical system parameters that impact performance.
Push hardware to the limit with optimized control strategies.
Automate and deploy
Streamline control activities on stable quantum devices
Enterprise hardware teams need to move fast and deliver on quantum device goals, but manual, mundane control tasks are sapping progress.
Boulder Opal provides complete packages that automate repetitive control tasks to turbocharge team effectiveness and efficiency.
Achieve performance beyond what's possible manually
Maximize process throughput to cover more in less time
Redirect valuable technical personnel to work on higher priority tasks
Scale up
Autonomous quantum computer calibration and tuneup, tailored to your hardware
Boulder Opal Scale Up combines AI and quantum control to deliver fast, repeatable calibration and characterization, ensuring high-performance quantum systems every time.
Through intelligent autonomy, users save time on routine tasks so they can focus on innovation, accelerating progress toward scalable, reliable quantum advantage.
Whats included
Intelligent autonomy
A central control engine ensures systems are calibrated and maintained to specified performance metrics, no PhD required.
Control functional library
Built for specific hardware architectures, users can access a variety of prebuilt workflows from complete calibration solutions across an entire device, down to individual experiments on a single qubit.
Controller interpreter
Integrated interpreters convert control tasks into lower level languages allowing easy transport of solutions across controller vendors.
Data management and reporting
Results are assigned to a representative virtual device for easy recall of all data in an organized format.
Benefits
Consistent control executions
Expertly design control solutions complete a specified task, every time, bringing more confidence and consistency to hardware operations.
Peak device performance
Finely tuned closed-loop optimizers find ideal gate parameters and outperform human-designed solutions every time.
Improved resource utilization
From expensive hardware to expert personnel, all resources are freed from mundane control tasks to focus on higher priority items.
Direct path to scale
Easily deployable performance and efficiency gains translate to a higher volume of devices with more qubits per device.
Save hours (or days) with autonomous system characterization and calibration
Bringup tasks that once took weeks, can be reduced to hours, with best in-class autonomous solutions, fully configured for your system, out-of-the-box. Compared to manual control operations, Boulder Opal Scale Up can give hours, or even days, back to your technical teams so they can work on what truly matters.
Toolkit
Comprehensive quantum control tools to help you build the best-performing quantum hardware
The Boulder Opal Toolkit is built for power and convenience. It includes a complete set of enterprise-grade tools enabling researchers to solve their hardest problems in the quest for better qubits and utility scale quantum devices.
From Hamiltonian-level simulations of complex time domain signals through to closed-loop hardware optimization, Boulder Opal has tools for a broad range of quantum applications.
Whats included
Simulation
Model quantum systems with integrated time-varying noise and signal libraries.
Model-based control
Design control solutions delivering peak performance based on the encoded quantum model.
Characterization
Accurately define hardware specifications, hamiltonian parameters, and environmental noise.
Closed-loop optimization
Implement automated feedback loops for design, calibration, and hardware-performance optimization tasks.
Benefits
Fast project timelines
Purpose-built tools accelerated by cloud-compute resources means less time to get target results
Seamless workflow integration
A simple Python client integrates easily with research environments and supports common control electronics.
Cohesive collaboration
Connected theoretical and experimental tools create an easier exchange of ideas between research groups.
Effective research support
Comprehensive documentation and dedicated support channels give you a helping hand when you need it.
Pair our toolkit with direct access to
Q-CTRL Researchers
Partner with Q-CTRL experts to help ou solve your hardest quantum control problems.
Support for your quantum hardware
Our tools and solutions leverage universal control techniques that function at a level above the physical qubit. This means Boulder Opal is designed and supported across most physical system modalities.
Superconducting qubits
Silicon qubits and quantum dots
Trapped-ion qubits
Neutral atom qubits
Color Centers and NV Diamond
Get up and running in minutes
Boulder Opal integrates easily with common Python packages and a wide range of control electronics systems so you can add powerful new capabilities with minimal effort.
Software
Qiskit, Quil, QuTip, ARTIQ
Controllers
Quantum Machines, Qblox, Zurich Instruments, Tabor Quantum Solutions, Keysight
Hardware
We support superconducting, trapped ion, neutral atom, and other types of quantum hardware
PLANS
We have the right plan for you
Whether you are looking to accelerate research and development progress or deploy on-premises quantum computers, we have the right package for you.
Basic
$0
Free Basic plan, yearly limits apply
For beginners, students, and explorers
Cloud software platform
4 vCPU, 32 GB RAM machine
1 machine (1 calculation at a time)
12 cloud machine hours
Standard support
Essentials
$1,500
USD / year
Managed compute for small teams
Cloud software platform
8 vCPU, 64 GB RAM machine
1 machine (1 calculation at a time)
200 cloud machine hours
Standard support
Performance
$9.99
$5,000
USD / year
Expanded computational resources for performance minded teams
Cloud software platform
16 vCPU, 128 GB RAM machine
Up to 4 machines (1 calculation per machine)
400 cloud machine hours
Standard + solutions engineering support
Professional
HPC-like resourcing for demanding teams of scientists and engineers
Hybrid cloud software platform
32 vCPU, 256 GB RAM machines
Up to 16 machines (1 calculation per machine)
1600 cloud machine hours
Dedicated + solutions engineering support
Scale Up
Contact sales
for pricing or to request a demo
Access to autonomous control solutions
Cloud software platform
Unlimited solution runs per device
Professional support
Real-world use cases
Accelerating the schedule for quantum-enhanced rail
Accelerate the usefulness of quantum computing for rail scheduling through custom solution development and performance optimization utilizing Fire Opal.
6X
increase in solvable problem size and accelerated timeline to practical quantum advantage by up to 3 years, now estimated for 2028.
Read the case study
We were pleasantly surprised to see the optimal routing of 26 trains over 18 minutes of real scheduling data for the full station topology being realised on a real quantum device, which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible without using Q-CTRL’s optimisation solver.
Nadia Hoodbhoy
Principal Engineer
,
Network Rail
Delivering quantum advantage to airborne systems
Q-CTRL’s Ironstone Opal delivers GPS-free quantum navigation, achieving 50x better performance than INS in real-world flight and ground vehicle trials.
50X
improvement over the performance of a strategic-grade inertial navigation system in real flight tests
Read the case study
We achieved an accuracy in some trials comparable to a sharpshooter hitting a bullseye from 1,000 yards away. But because our quantum-assured navigation system allows a vehicle to position itself accurately irrespective of how far it’s travelled, by analogy that sharpshooter can hit the same bullseye no matter how far away they move from the target.
Michael J. Biercuk
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
,
Q-CTRL
Improving quantum education outcomes with Black Opal at the University of Hull, UK
Enhancing student engagement and real-world understanding in quantum computing through intuitive and interactive learning with Black Opal.
85%
of students reported that Black Opal improved their overall learning outcomes when used alongside their university syllabus, and would recommend its use in future courses.
Read the case study
Students who engaged with Black Opal as an active companion resource significantly boosted knowledge retention and ultimately understanding. Some of them even engaged further with quantum computing by choosing a final-year project in that field.
Dr David Benoit
Senior Lecturer in Molecular Physics and Astrochemistry
,
University of Hull, UK
Nord Quantique is accelerating the path to useful quantum error correction with Boulder Opal
Nord Quantique used Boulder Opal to design a hardware-efficient QEC protocol for a superconducting system where quantum information is encoded in GKP states.
14%
increase in logical qubit lifetime
Read the case study
Given the complexity of the physics at play, being able to perform closed-loop optimization of a few physically motivated parameters of the quantum error correction protocol with Boulder Opal is very valuable to us.
Dany Lachance-Quirion
VP of Quantum Hardware
,
Nord Quantique
Boulder Opal
Bring innovative quantum solutions to market
Frequently asked questions
Is the Boulder Opal license limited to a single user?
Boulder Opal cloud licenses can accommodate an unlimited number of users. We provide recommendations for different license tiers for different group sizes to ensure that internal competition among users does not lead to computational delays.
What is calculation concurrency?
Number of calculations can be run concurrently across multiple cloud-hosted machines to accelerate computation. Having a higher concurrency is useful when you want to speed up your calculations or share computational resources within your team.
What are the cloud machine hours?
Number of hours of running a single cloud-hosted CPU machine in a year. You can buy additional machine time to supplement your Essentials, Performance or Professional plan.
Are there resources to help my learning curve?
You can access a comprehensive documentation suite to help you on your journey, starting with Get started guide, and Tutorials.
Is a local installation available?
A locally installed version of Boulder Opal can be provided upon request for circumstances mandating ultra-low latency in hardware communications. We recommend the cloud instance for general computations, as cloud services can provide performance far exceeding the specifications of the local machine.
Are Boulder Opal results validated on hardware or software?
We have independently validated and published technical validation of key demonstrations on hardware through our research - this includes device-level demonstrations of improvements >10X.We have also established a range of hardware validations with our customers and R&D partners around the world, collected in our case studies.
