  Many organizations that vitally depend on computation for their competitive
advantage are keen to exploit the expected performance of quantum computers
(QCs) as soon as quantum advantage is achieved. The best approach to deliver
hardware quantum advantage for high-value problems is not yet clear. This work
advocates establishing quantum-ready applications and underlying tools and
formulations, so that software development can proceed now to ensure being
ready for quantum advantage. This work can be done independently of which
hardware approach delivers quantum advantage first. The quadratic unconstrained
binary optimization (QUBO) problem is one such quantum-ready formulation. We
developed the next generation of qbsolv, a tool that is widely used for
sampling QUBOs on early QCs, focusing on its performance executing purely
classically, and deliver it as a cloud service today. We find that it delivers
highly competitive results in all of quality (low energy value), speed (time to
solution), and diversity (variety of solutions). We believe these results give
quantum-forward users a reason to switch to quantum-ready formulations today,
reaping immediate benefits in performance and diversity of solution from the
quantum-ready formulation,preparing themselves for quantum advantage, and
accelerating the development of the quantum computing ecosystem.
