IBM executives revealed what IT managers can expect from its
self-healing, or autonomic computing, initiative over the next year
or two.
While most of the talk about autonomic computing up until now has
been about systems on the network and server side, IBM unveiled a
roadmap for notebooks and desktops in private meetings held at
Comdex.
Next year IBM will add an autonomic technology called Instant
Connect to Access Connect, its notebook technology that puts
various location configuration profiles on a user's mobile device
to automate and optimise connections back to the network.
Instant Connect can create and configure a system automatically
when a network profile and known resources for a particular
location are not included in the notebook. It will detect the type
of connection environment that exists and determine what
configuration data is needed to make the connection back to the
network.
Using Bluetooth, infrared, or IEEE 802.11x, the system can
determine what configuration data is needed by "asking a
neighbouring PC" for the proper connection data. Polling a nearby
PC happens without interruption to either system and without user
intervention.
If all else fails and another local PC cannot supply the
configuration information, the system will send a message telling
the user what piece of data is still required, such as a WEP
(Wireless Encryption Protocol) key for access to a wireless
network.
For IBM, autonomic computing appears to be more a concept than any
one particular technology. While the goal is always the same -
self-healing systems that do not require user intervention - there
are, in fact, numerous technologies that accomplish this
concept.
Another autonomic solution is an upgrade to IBM's Wireless Security
Auditor called Distributed Wireless Security Auditor (DWSA), a
handheld device with Wi-Fi that allows a network administrator to
walk through a building to find rogue access points.
Using triangulation, because many PCs are identifying the same
rogue access point, the system can locate the access within four
feet. If a floor plan were overlaid on top of the co-ordinates, the
administrator would easily identify which employee set up an
unauthorised network.
Finally, IBM unveiled Client Rescue and Recovery, an upgrade to its
existing recovery system that allows users to return to a previous
state in case of a crash by depressing the F11 key on a
ThinkPad.
The latest version, for which no time frame was given, creates a
separate environment outside of Windows. If a hard disk crashes and
there are no other alternative media, the system will boot into
Random Access Memory and from there connect a user to his or her
helpdesk or anywhere on the network they might need to go.