IBM is reducing IT complexity with new products that
support its ongoing
"Autonomic
Computing" strategy, to deliver self-managing,
self-healing computing systems.
The latest products announced by IBM deliver operational
intelligence from the
datacentre to business leaders.
The new offerings give customers the ability to make better use
of the intelligence that lies within their computing systems, to
benefit strategy and planning, analysis, deployment of resources,
operations and maintenance, said Big Blue.
IBM said the systems would help improve companies' management of
energy consumption, assets and facilities, governance and risk, and
finance and accounting.
These technologies and services support the original goals of
Autonomic Computing to establish IT systems that regulate their own
health and thereby support the business goals and policies of
organisations.
In October 2001, IBM Research unveiled the IBM Autonomic
Computing Manifesto to IT industry leaders.
This proposed a solution to the challenge of maintaining the
increasingly complex computing environments that millions of
businesses, billions of humans and trillions of devices rely on
each day.
The aim was to build systems that regulate themselves much the
same way the autonomic nervous system regulates and protects human
bodies.
"This was and remains a grand industry challenge that IBM issued
to both itself as well as other IT companies," said Alan Ganek,
vice-president of Autonomic Computing and CTO of IBM Tivoli.
"The difficulty is not the machines themselves - the industry
has brilliantly exceeded goals for computer performance and speed.
The challenge is to create the open standards and new technologies
needed for systems to interact effectively, to enact pre-determined
business policies more effectively, and to be able to protect, heal
and manage themselves with minimal dependence on human
intervention."
IBM has already integrated autonomic capabilities into more than
500 features in more than 100 products and services, including
"self-healing" features in its systems management software.
IBM's new and updated offerings support Autonomic Computing by
increasing operational intelligence, improving IT testing,
monitoring and performance, and helping to establish superior IT
service management.