Honeywell Takes Tiny Steps Toward a Quantum Leap in Computing

A decade ago, two scientists at Honeywell International Inc. pitched their bosses a most improbable idea: The century-old industrial company should build a quantum computer. The idea was met with some skepticism. For one thing, International Business Machines Corp. and Google were already moving ahead on quantum computing, which promises to be much faster, for certain tasks, than even the speediest transistor-based chips. And Honeywell was better known for making cockpit controls, security systems, and even work boots.

Yet management signed off, and scientists set up a laboratory in a one-story brick building outside Boulder, Colo. Now, Honeywell is pursuing its own path to producing a practical quantum computer that can be used for everyday business. On Oct. 29 it unveiled what it dubbed the H1, its second-generation quantum computer. JPMorgan Chase & Co., BP Plc, and other companies are paying for subscriptions to write algorithms on the machine and test those results with classical supercomputers.