ParTec

Inside Quantum & HPC Minds:
Martin Rüfenacht

As part of our “Inside Quantum & HPC Minds” series, we have interviewed Martin Rüfenacht, HPC & Quantum Application Analyst at ParTec. Martin shares what sparked his passion for High Performance Computing and Quantum Computing, what motivated him to join ParTec, and what fascinates him most about bringing Quantum acceleration to supercomputing. 

Martin Rüfenacht
HPC & Quantum Application Analyst

Your focus has been on both HPC and QC - what initially sparked your interest in those fields?

Originally, I started a degree in Experimental Physics, but quickly realized it wasn’t for me. Having always had an interest in computer science and having taught myself programming at a young age I transitioned to Computational Physics. That is where I first learned about Quantum Computing. My journey led me further into HPC, culminating in a PhD in HPC at the University of Edinburgh. At LRZ I then transitioned back to Quantum Computing with my work of integrating HPC and QC and developing the system software for it.

You previously were a researcher at LRZ, what motivated you to join ParTec?

Two aspects, first on a personal view, the flexibility that is afforded to the employees at ParTec is invaluable. When I needed to relocate to Switzerland for my parents, ParTec was very supportive of that. LRZ couldn’t support this due to their government funding. Second, at LRZ I was able to influence many things from a customer perspective and I wanted to also do that on the vendor side. Contributing to the direction of HPCQC from both community perspectives is a privileged position I find myself in, as it allows me to ensure our collective efforts are directed towards the right path.

What is your responsibility at ParTec and the most interesting area you currently are involved in?

I am part of the Applications and Performance team at ParTec, focusing primarily on the Quantum Workbench. One of the most interesting aspects of my work is knowing both sides of the software. I understand the needs of applications requiring robust system software support, and I also contribute directly to enhancing the system software to meet the applications’ needs.

What fascinates you most about bringing quantum acceleration to supercomputers?

I think it’s clear to everyone nowadays that we’ve moved beyond the era of computing that prevailed until the early 2000s. Back then, hardware improvements were so fast that you could write good software and rely on increasing hardware speed for performance gains. Nowadays we need to be a bit smarter, while hardware continues to advance, it is usually for specific tasks. This is where quantum and other acceleration comes in. With Quantum Computing it is of course additionally notable that certain tasks are just not able to be completed in a reasonable amount of time on purely classical computers. As a community we need to embrace this heterogeneous ecosystem. The challenge is significant, because using a single large computer is difficult, but navigating a system that is composed of many smaller diverse parts adds further complexity.

Where do you see the future of HPC and QC?

In the near term, there are certain types of problems that can benefit from QC, but it won’t be at the scale of classical HPC yet. However, as our understanding of quantum algorithms grows and hardware improves, I can foresee a time when we need many quantum computers attached to a supercomputer to be able to solve particular “class leading” problems. This integration will likely involve other accelerators beyond QPUs.

What advice would you give someone looking to start their career in the advanced computing area?

My career path was predominantly an academic one which then progressed into a private sector one. I believe it is the ideal way as we can see the same with many colleagues at ParTec. The academic background really enables a wide understanding of the field and allows specializing to something that is a particular area of interest to you. Then you can choose to either remain in academia or go into the private sector. The demand for computing professionals is unlikely to diminish in the future, so either path offers stable career prospects.

For further editions of our “Inside Quantum & HPC Minds” series, please visit our dedicated page.