IBM has announced a set of hardware and software tools designed to
reduce the pain and costs associated with configuring and
maintaining desktop PCs.
ThinkVantage Technologies is the first step towards crystallising
the long-held IT dream of PCs being able to diagnose and heal
themselves.
It is also the first series of products to corroborate IBM chairman
Sam Palmisano's vision of an "on demand" computing environment for
the company's largest users, which is reliant on a variety of
hardware and software products capable of self-healing and
self-managing.
"What Sam Palmisano said was that for users to have an e-business
on demand infrastructure and environment, they need an autonomic
client that can self-manage, self-heal, self-configure. The only
way for that to happen is to embed these technologies inside them,"
said Rich Fennessey, vice-president of marketing at IBM's PC
group.
IBM will begin branding its ThinkCentre desktop offerings at the
Partner World conference in February. With the company's existing
line of portable systems already called ThinkPads, IBM will
continue with that name.
"We will show off the new models in February that support this
initiative as well as communicate a complete offerings roadmap for
what products and technologies we will produce over the course of
2003," Fennessey said.
Besides the rebranded desktop systems, IBM will also introduce a
new line of ThinkVision displays, a line of Think Accessories and
Think Services offerings.
Some of the ThinkVantage technologies include RapidRestore PC, a
software tool that comes bundled with desktop systems that can
restore previously saved data and applications after a failure.
Embedded Security Subsystem, a system made up of both hardware and
downloadable software, protects mission-critical data. A third tool
is called ImageBuilder, a toolkit for larger IT shops to help
reduce the number of software images they must support.
In concert with the ThinkVantage Technologies, IBM Research also
demonstrated a handful of autonomic technologies it has developed
in concert with the PC group that centre around PCs "healing"
themselves.
They include Client Recovery and Rescue, intended to help users
recover data and to continue operations even after a catastrophic
PC failure such as a broken hard drive.
A second technology, called Distributed Wireless Security Auditor,
lets PCs in the same location work in concert with each other to
detect a number of "rogue" security risks within wireless
networks.
IBM Research also took the wraps off Instant Connections, a
technology that can detect both wireless and wired networks
automatically and then configure PCs with them.