The First Generation of European Quantum Computers – A Discussion with the Hosting Sites

The EuroHPC JU has recently announced the hosting sites for the first six European quantum computers. The systems will be installed at IT4I-Czechia, GENCI-CEA-France, LRZ-Germany, CINECA-Italy, PSNC-Poland and BSC-CNS-Spain. With the systems also comes the mandate to integrate them with the existing HPC resources at the sites, establishing and enabling true HPCQC capabilities for the European user community. These systems will further Europe’s leading efforts in HPCQC integration and the projects tackle the challenges of seating and operating these systems: from where to locate these quantum system with respect to differing infrastructures, cooling systems and facilities to determining the level and type of physical and logical integration between the HPC and QC systems; from establishing suitable programming abstractions not solely relying on quantum physics to dynamic local and global scheduling environments; and from user education and training to the creation of a pan-European HPCQC community. In this BoF, we invite representatives from the sites to give an overview of their approaches to host and operate their systems as well as the motivation that drove the site-specific choices. This will be followed by a discussion between the centers and the HPC community, especially the targeted European user community in the audience, on how to make best use of these systems and how to integrate them into daily scientific workflows. The goal of the session is to increase awareness for the planned systems and to get early user input on how these new services will have to be offered.