IBM (News - Alert) envisions a world in which computer systems will mostly manage themselves and perform self-healing functions as needed—and is working hard to turn that vision into reality. The company on Thursday announced a new set of “Autonomic Computing” products designed to help businesses better leverage operational intelligence in their computer systems to improve analysis, strategic planning, operational and maintenance, and resource deployment.

 

In its announcement, IBM noted that the company has been focused on Autonomic Computing for more than six years, and that this roll-out is just the latest in a series of phases working toward self-managing computer systems. IBM’s goals in this arena were originally made available in its October, 2001 “Autonomic Computing Manifesto.”

 

The idea behind Autonomic Computing is to make it easier to maintain increasingly complex computing environments relied upon daily by millions of businesses, billions of people and trillions of devices. How to do that? IBM’s answer is to build systems that regulate themselves in a similar way to the autonomic nervous system in the human body.

 

So far, IBM has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in R&D to create autonomic capabilities in more than 500 product features for upwards of 100 products and services. This includes the technology driving IBM’s Blue Gene/L supercomputer and “self-healing” features that now come standard in the company’s system management software.

 

IBM’s efforts have helped companies lower their computing costs and improve their operations. One example of this is Marist College’s (in New York) use of IBM’s OPTIMIZETest service, which automates testing of IT operations. Thanks to this solution, the Marist College is able to identify potential computer system problems faster while doing more testing in 50 percent less time.

 

Another example is Network Solutions, LLC (an Internet services provider), which successfully migrated more than 450 servers, managing 17 terabytes of data, from one center to another while integrating two newly acquired companies—thanks to processes and tools built into IBM’s Tivoli software. By using IBM’s solution, Network Solutions was able to save more than $1 million in IT management costs.

 

“With our growing hosting and e-commerce infrastructures, we're adding over 150 servers and 20 terabytes of storage per year,” said Jim Polkowske, vice president of operations for Network Solutions, in a statement. “Leveraging autonomic capabilities, we can deploy software updates in 80 percent less time and without the risk of human error. This equates to less strain on our IT staff and significantly greater reliability and system availability for our customers.”

 

Alan Ganek, vice president of IBM’s Autonomic Computing division and CTO of the company’s Tivoli software business, said the challenge with developing Autonomic Computing solutions lies not with machines themselves (since the high-tech industry continues to exceed goals for computer performance and speed) but rather with the technologies and standards used in the machines.

 

“The challenge is to create the open standards and new technologies needed for systems to interact effectively, to enact predetermined business policies more effectively, and to be able to protect, heal and manage themselves with minimal dependence on human intervention,” Ganek said in a statement.

 

This week’s announced updates to IBM’s Autonomic Computing solutions include those highlighted below.

 

Tivoli Security Operations Manager – a consolidated, real-time dashboard for optimizing, managing and protecting computer systems.

 

OPTIMIZETest – automatic testing and assurance service for IT operations.

 

Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager – software that automatically performs cost allocation, resource accounting and chargeback billing functions.

 

Tivoli Change and Configuration Management Database – a platform for implementing service management initiatives that automatically tracks IT information spread across multiple computer systems.

 

Service Management – portfolio of design, planning, strategy and implementation services for adapting standards and practices into existing computing environments.

 

Tivoli Monitoring – performance and availability monitoring for IT resources.

 

Continuing its focus on Autonomic Computing, IBM is working with other industry leaders on the Community Systems Management Open Source (COSMOS) project to create new standards that better enable self-managing computer systems. The company’s focus on new standards for Autonomic Computing also extends to the Configuration Management Databases (CMDB) Federation, which is working to create a standard way for IT management tools to share and access data.