Credit: Zapata Quantum hardware roadmaps often include timelines, but they rarely answer the questions that matter most to a chief information officer: which problems will this solve, when will it happen, and at what cost? Zapata Quantum, a Boston-based quantum software company, believes it has created a tool to help with these decisions. The company has launched early access to Quantum Pilot, a cloud-based software platform that works with any hardware. It helps businesses find possible quantum applications, evaluate their technical and commercial value, and decide where to invest.
For now, only selected enterprise and government customers can use the platform. Zapata has not shared pricing details or named any participants. Zapata describes Quantum Pilot as a roadmap that updates itself. The platform continuously monitors research, hardware plans, and software progress in the field of quantum computing.
This lets customers check if an application is ready or adjust their plans as technology advances. Since it works with any quantum provider, companies can develop applications without having to choose a single processor or technology up front. Sumit Kapur, Zapata’s chief executive, said: “We built Quantum Pilot to make that on-ramp more accessible to enterprise leaders and ensure that quantum activity becomes a capability that compounds—with each experiment and development effort informing and accelerating the next.” He also explained that the goal is for each experiment to build on the last, so quantum work keeps progressing. The platform is built on three main systems.
Quantum Graph is a unique knowledge layer that connects applications, algorithms, research, and hardware plans, giving context to the platform’s AI agents. Quantum Engine offers tools and agents for selecting algorithms, estimating resources, designing experiments, and benchmarking hardware. Quantum Assurance combines formal verification methods with reviews from Zapata’s scientists, who help customers understand results and plan next steps. Zapata says it uses technology from its collaboration with NVIDIA, announced in June, that applies AI to estimate the hardware an algorithm will need before it runs.
The platform also benefits from research with the University of Maryland on formal methods for verifying quantum software. Runzhou Tao, an assistant professor at Maryland who works with Zapata, said in a statement that adding verification from the beginning, instead of checking after the fact, addresses “a discipline quantum computing has largely developed without.” “Among the things that make Quantum Pilot’s approach to application development distinct is its use of formal verification, rather than after-the-fact validation alone. That’s the same principle we apply in our research with Zapata on verified quantum software, and it addresses a discipline quantum computing has largely developed without,” said Mark Hill, chief digital information officer at CSL Behring. Zapata was founded in 2017 as a spinout from a Harvard quantum lab and says it has more than 60 granted and pending patents.
