AWS recently announced the availability of Amazon Braket Direct, a new Amazon Braket program allowing quantum researchers to dive deeper into quantum computing.
Amazon Braket is a fully-managed quantum computing service from Amazon Web Services (AWS). With Braket Direct program, users get dedicated, private access to the full capacity of various quantum processing units (QPUs). Moreover, they do not, according to the company, have to wait for resources and can connect directly with quantum computing specialists to receive expert guidance from quantum hardware providers such as IonQ, Oxford Quantum Circuits, QuEra, Rigetti, or Amazon Quantum Solutions Lab for their workloads. In addition, users get early access to features and devices with limited availability to conduct their research.
Channy Yun, a principal developer advocate at AWS, writes:
You can now use Braket Direct to reserve the entire dedicated machine for a period of time on IonQ Aria, QuEra Aquila, and Rigetti Aspen-M-3 devices for running your most complex, long-running, time-sensitive workloads, or conducting live events such as training workshops and hackathons, where you pay only for what you reserve.
Amazon Braket Direct (Source: AWS News Blog)
Braket Direct offers not only on-demand access to quantum computers, yet also the option for dedicated device access through reservations. These reservations provide exclusive usage of a chosen quantum device, allowing users to schedule sessions at their convenience, with the flexibility to cancel up to 48 hours in advance at no extra cost.
Furthermore, users can engage with quantum computing experts directly within the Braket management console for additional guidance on workloads, selecting from options such as free office hours with Braket experts, professional services offered by quantum hardware providers, or assistance from the Amazon QSL.
A respondent on a Reddit thread commented on "house" cloud services like DWave, Rigetti, and IBM versus the AWS offering:
A current benefit of the in-house clouds is a richer API and generally more control over the quantum computer. Rigetti gives a whole host of tools for, say, efficient variational algorithm execution and direct reservation of the machine. The SDK is also extremely comprehensive in its capabilities, including compilation.
A benefit of an offering like AWS is ubiquity, familiarity with their permissions and billing systems, common API for multiple machines (even if the API isn’t as rich), and ease of integration with other Amazon products, of which they have many.
Braket Direct is currently generally available in all AWS regions where Amazon Braket is available, and its pricing details are available on the pricing page.
