* IBM promotes autonomic computing through cooperation with other vendors
IBM went out on a limb to promote autonomic computing a few years ago, and created a group to develop autonomic computing capabilities within IBM and to work outside of the company to promote it. This group has been working with standards bodies and with independent software vendors to lay the groundwork for better and easier integration, which is necessary for broader automation.
One example of the standards work is Common Base Event (CBE). The CBE standards address the format of log files. IT infrastructures have dispersed log files of all kinds, in different formats. Integrating these disparate pools of data is not so easy. With a CBE standard, pulling together log data from different sources is possible, which facilitates analyzing the data using non-manual methods.
CBE is a part of the Autonomic Toolkit that IBM gives away to ISVs, a toolkit which also includes IBM’s Autonomic Management Engine. I recently spoke with Singlestep, an IBM partner that used the Autonomic Toolkit to develop additional functionality for its service provider customers.
Singlestep worked closely with IBM to develop an advanced root-cause analysis tool using the tool kit and Singlestep’s Unity software. Unity collects management information, converts the data to CBE and sends the data to the Autonomic Management Engine (AME). The AME conducts root-cause analysis, and Unity takes the appropriate action. An early customer has seen a 30% decrease in events with the product.
An interesting aspect of this, beyond the fact that autonomic computing is beginning to show up in products, is Singlestep’s experience in working with IBM on this project. Singlestep and IBM were able to complete the project, according to Singlestep, in record time. They began in early September 2004 and the software was in production by Nov. 15. It included capabilities that Singlestep had in its product roadmap for delivery by the end of 2005. The company credits its partnership with IBM and the Autonomic Toolkit for the development time saved. Singlestep’s service provider customer is already offering these new capabilities as a service to its own customers.
Singlestep found IBM’s DeveloperWorks to be a good resource, as well as the quick response time from IBM staff. Singlestep remarked that there was never a “big company feel” when it was working with IBM.
IBM’s autonomic computing efforts are beginning to manifest themselves both in its own products and in those of other vendors. Autonomic computing is no longer a pipe dream; it’s emerging in concrete products.
