OQD has launched an open source quantum error correction working group with WD and QuScript, combining storage-grade reliability expertise with trapped-ion systems to accelerate fault-tolerant quantum computing.
Open Quantum Design (OQD) has launched a new open source Error Correction Working Group with WD (Western Digital) and QuScript to tackle one of quantum computing’s most critical bottlenecks: quantum error correction (QEC). The initiative centres on advancing the reliability layer needed to move quantum systems from laboratory experiments into commercially scalable, fault-tolerant platforms.
The collaboration will build and demonstrate QEC on OQD’s open-source, full-stack trapped-ion quantum computer, with hardware designs, control systems, software and APIs openly accessible to researchers, industry contributors and entrepreneurs. This open model is designed to reduce barriers to experimentation, speed up iteration, and allow cross-sector experts to build directly on the stack in real time.
A major differentiator is WD’s contribution of decades of large-scale storage reliability and hard disk drive error correction expertise, bringing classical data integrity engineering into the quantum domain.
“Quantum error correction shares deep parallels with challenges we’ve mastered in hard disk drive storage systems — managing noise, signal integrity, and reliability at massive scale,” said Zvonimir Bandic, Distinguished Engineer at WD. He added that WD’s expertise can help accelerate “the path to practical, large-scale fault tolerant quantum computing.”
Beyond demonstrations, the group will also develop open protocols for system reliability and error correction, potentially creating shared standards for quantum platforms globally — elevating the story from partnership news to open-source infrastructure building for the quantum stack.
