IBM, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard shared the stage at
the first International Conference on Autonomic Computing in New
York earlier this week, mapping out fairly similar and harmonious
strategies for working toward self-managing IT
systems.
IBM claims credit for coining the name "autonomic computing"
three years ago, to describe its new focus on automation as the key
to addressing the growing problem of computing infrastructure
complexity. That initiative became a core element in the on-demand
vision IBM unveiled in 2002, a campaign that prompted many other IT
suppliers to craft similar strategies. HP calls its spin the
"adaptive enterprise" strategy, while Microsoft spoke Tuesday of
its Dynamic Systems Initiative.
Steve White, IBM Research's senior manager of autonomic
computing, spoke of an IBM venture exploring the construction of
systems from self-responsible components. A storage-system
component, for example, would recognise that it requires a database
and would find and configure its own database component. The
project, called Unity, has a working prototype.
The gains from such studies will be slow. All three companies
said they were introducing autonomic features gradually into their
products and did not expect to deliver any all-in-one miracle
technologies.
However, some gains have already crept into products. IBM's
forthcoming DB2 update, codenamed Stinger, includes tools to tune
the database to accommodate fluctuating workloads, while HP has
workload and availability controllers available for use in virtual
server environments.
Representatives from the three companies agreed about the need
for more automatic computing technologies, and about the
incremental nature of their expected progress toward that goal.
The only topic to spark notably divergent views was the issue of
standards. An audience member called for greater industry
standardisation in areas such as error-log generation formats, a
position backed by IBM's representative but rebuffed by Microsoft
senior architect Anders Vinberg.
"I think it's a hopeless request," Vinberg said. Instead of
pushing for deeper standardisation, customers should turn to data
transformation and integration tools to get heterogeneous
applications and data sources to interoperate, he added.
IBM architect Jeffrey Frey retorted that tools are essential,
but so is co-operation between suppliers.
IBM had a leading role in co-ordinating this year's inaugural
conference, which ran in parallel with the World Wide Web
Conference, but Microsoft will take the lead in arranging next
year's gathering in Seattle.
Stacy Cowley writes for IDG News
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