Q-CTRL digest
Accelerating quantum advantage by scaling error suppression with NVIDIA and OQC
March 20, 2025
Achieve utility scale with Fire Opal on Qiskit Functions
Unlock turnkey capabilities, speed, and performance with Fire Opal features natively deployed on IBM Quantum Premium Plan systems
10X
Deeper circuits
1,000X
Reduced compute cost
1,000X
Improved accuracy
Fast track utility-scale applications with peak hardware performance across every run
Fire Opal’s AI-driven error suppression and noise-aware solvers make it possible to run challenging problems and push the boundaries of what’s possible on quantum hardware. Now you can access the power of Fire Opal directly on IBM Quantum Platform with Qiskit Functions.
Performance Management Function
Achieve record-setting results at utility-scale. When running circuits with Fire Opal Performance Management, best-in-class, AI-driven error suppression techniques are applied automatically. The entire pipeline is algorithm-agnostic and fully configured.
Successfully run circuits up to full-device scale with thousands of gates
Apply to any algorithm with no settings or configuration
Reduce compute time up to 100X by eliminating error-mitigation overhead.
Optimization Solver Function
Now you can successfully solve meaningful utility-scale optimization problems on real quantum hardware. Simply input the high-level problem definition, and the solver takes care of the rest. The workflow is noise-aware and leverages Fire Opal Performance Management under the hood.
Solve high-value problems at full device scale (156 qubits) achieving 100% accuracy
Save time with a fully packaged and configured hybrid solver
Run any graph or cost function, untethered from device details or connectivity
Getting started with Qiskit Functions is simple
Contact Q-CTRL to get access
Fill out the form to try out either of Q-CTRL’s Qiskit Functions for free.
Connect to the Qiskit Functions Catalog
Import the QiskitFunctionsCatalog from the qiskit-ibm-catalog package.
Authenticate with your IBM Quantum credentials
No need to sign up or manage any other accounts. Simply use your IBM Quantum credentials.
Run your utility-scale workload
Use the Q-CTRL Functions via a single .run call to apply error suppression methods that enable performance at scale.
Where to find Fire Opal
Using Q-CTRL's performance management software, we validated the efficacy of a novel quantum machine learning method on IBM hardware. The performance gave us confidence that in the coming years, quantum will play a crucial role in our commercial operations.
Hiroshi Yamauchi
Senior Manager, Research Institute of Advanced Technology
,
SoftBank Corp
We were genuinely impressed by the performance of Q-CTRL's Fire Opal. It provided solutions for fully-connected, 100-qubit problems that rival the best classical solvers, which is a feat we hadn't imagined possible with current gate-based devices. This scale opens the door to real-world applications, like optimizing energy grids.
Naeimeh Mohseni
Senior Quantum Engineer
,
E.ON
We achieved a significant leap forward in accurately calculating the physical properties of materials, demonstrating a five-fold increase in achievable circuit width over previous Quantum Phase Estimation studies.
Shu Kanno
Scientist
,
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Fire Opal
Find true value from quantum algorithms
Frequently asked questions
Who can use it?
Currently, only IBM Quantum Premium Plan customers can access Qiskit Functions. Other IBM users can still get the same performance through the Fire Opal software package hosted by Q-CTRL.
What’s the difference between Qiskit Functions and Fire Opal?
The user interface and hosting model are different. Qiskit Functions are offered through IBM’s Qiskit Serverless package, and they are hosted and managed by IBM, which enables them to use IBM authentication. Fire Opal is a standalone Python package connected to a cloud service hosted and managed by Q-CTRL.
Why use Qiskit Functions vs. Fire Opal?
Use Qiskit Functions if you’re an IBM Quantum Premium Plan customer who wants a similar workflow and developer experience as Qiskit. Fire Opal is great for hardware-agnostic users who want a single interface to improve performance across multiple hardware providers.
Can I try it for free?
Yes, most IBM Quantum Premium Plan customers are eligible for a free trial of Qiskit Functions.
