Dr Fabiana Santana1, Ms Catherine Eibner1, Mr Keith Archibald1, Mr Carie Vito1, Dr Syed Assad2, Dr Aaron Tranter2
1Amazon Web Services, Canberra, Australia, 2The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Using Quantum Science, the Australian National University (ANU) has developed technology to generate true random numbers. They are generated in real-time by measuring the quantum fluctuations of the vacuum and are guaranteed to be unpredictable and unbiased by the laws of Physics. Random numbers are needed in cryptography, computer games, numerical analysis and simulation problems, among many others. Notable examples include their use to assign volunteers to clinical trials and understand virus behaviours in outbreak simulations. Artists also use them to remove bias from the creative process.
The ANU has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to productise the ANU Quantum Numbers (AQN) and make them accessible to individuals or organisations all around the globe through the AWS Marketplace, closing the gap between research and innovation.
The project followed the main steps: a) Complete Amazon’s Working Backwards Engagement so the team could experience Amazon’s innovation approach first-hand, and apply it to creating a solution that delighted their customers; b) Architectural design; and c) AWS Marketplace integration. The result is now available as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution in the AWS Marketplace [accessible from this link: https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-246kyrfjo3bag].
The AQN on the AWS Marketplace democratises access and provides worldwide visibility and global scale to this Quantum technology. It also allows the ANU to give back to society by socialising research outcomes while beautifully translating research into innovation. Sharing this experience may help other researchers that would like to understand how they can better drive innovation in their organisations.
Biography:
Dr Fabiana Santana is a Senior Solutions Architect working with Science, Research & Education customers based in the ACT. Fabiana works with government agencies, universities, and research organisations to help define their research and technical strategy and deliver key projects using AWS. She has extensive leadership experience; in Australia, she was the Head of the School of Information Technology and Systems at the University of Canberra and a Senior Manager at the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI). In Brazil, she was the Head of the School of Computer Science at a Federal University and a Senior Manager in the Banking Industry. Fabiana is a computer scientist with a PhD in electrical engineering and a Masters in parallel computing/HPC. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Elsevier Ecological Informatics journal and contributes to other journals in Biodiversity and Climate Change modelling.