Autonomic Computing
Group 9
Jeffrey Cook, Christopher Jaquez, Malick Ousseini, Derrick Williams
Key Words: Autonomic
Computing, Transparency, Competitive Advantage, Autonomic Nervous System
The past couple of decades have seen the progress of computing grow exponentially. The power of computer systems along with the number of computer related products have also seen explosive growth. Unfortunately, the growth of the Autonomic Computing has exceeded the number of people qualified and trained to work with this technology. Autonomic Computing may be the answer to this problem. Autonomic Computing is basically automating the mundane and basic features of everyday computing tasks. Autonomic Computing also involves self-managing systems that does not need people to constantly monitor, fix, or update them. Autonomic computing works similar to the autonomic nervous system of the human body, it works behind the scenes on a subconscious level, by taking care of updating the system itself. It borrows and lends programs and software to other systems automatically, instead of involving people in the decision. It adapts the system to changes both internally and externally. It keeps private and public information and systems separated, and provide an always changing and updating security system to protect the private groups. The autonomic computing system can adapt itself to predict what its user is going to do in terms of what is needed to help the user be more efficient. In the business world, this new technology can reduce costs and increase efficiency. It reduces costs by performing tasks automatically that are usually performed by paid information technology specialists. It increases efficiency in the same way that it reduces costs.
IBM is the front runner in developing the autonomic computing technology. Their specialists have been researching it publicly since 2001. Autonomic Computing involves self-healing systems; that are basically administrator and human interface free. They do not need to have information technology specialists to constantly monitor and fix problems; instead they adapt and fix themselves. They catch problems when they are small, when engineers cannot see or detect them, and/or before they become large and threaten the system. Beyond security, autonomic computing systems can determine what the user needs to work on in terms of accessing data or software needs and can automatically find, access, and download it, if required. Autonomic systems improve the intelligence of the computer, and are designed to adapt and evolve. They are reactive systems, this means that they find a problem or a need of the user and change the system to accommodate his/her needs. These systems are able to heal and fix themselves in the event of a system crash and also detect, destroy, and heal from viruses or other external threats. The computer industry has, until recently, been interested only in making devices and systems that are small, able to store huge amounts of data, and are powerful in processing data. Now, the focus has turned to the interaction of the computer with storage areas and networks. Autonomic computing works in a very simple way; it follows rules. The system manages itself by following guidelines of operation provided by the system administrators. When the system is told how it should run and automated to take steps to maintain this level of performance, then the system can be called autonomic. Autonomic Computing is important because with IT specialists free of the management of systems operation and maintaining the system, they can focus on more important things such as researching and developing new ideas. Once the business or system policies and operating guidelines are programmed into the system then the system is able to configure itself and its components to optimize the guidelines. Autonomic systems are never turned off since they are always adjusting components to maximize the efficiency of the system. The thing that makes the autonomic system work is the presence of closed control loops. Closed control loops are monitoring devices and software that keep a component within its desired operating parameters. It does this by comparing the actual output of a component with a measured standard that is set by a human administrator and then adjusting the component back to the desired operating range.
Autonomic computing will have a great effect on business in that it will greatly reduce costs and maximize efficiency by cutting out IT jobs that are not really needed and making it possible for the present systems to run more effectively. By using autonomic systems, businesses and other organizations can cut the need for workers to maintain, update, and protect their systems. Since there are not enough workers to fill all the needed positions, switching to autonomic systems will take the strain off of the market for IT workers. This reduces costs by eliminating jobs that are expensive to the company and lowers the leverage that information technology specialists have in demanding very high pay. A competitive advantage can be achieved if a company is a first mover into the autonomic sector and can effectively implement the technology to cut the overall expenses of the company. This cost competitive advantage comes from the automation of jobs that are normally high pay and the increased operating efficiency of the system to make the company more productive.
In conclusion, autonomic computing is an emerging technology that can help businesses and other organizations in many ways. On one hand it will allow the organization to cut costs by eliminating IT jobs that are hard to fill. Also it reduces the risk of system failures and slowdowns by detecting and fixing problems while they are small. It maximizes efficiency by keeping the system operating within acceptable ranges with the use of closed control loops which match the systems operating level to the level specified by administrators. By automating repetitive and time consuming basic functions the autonomic system frees up IT workers to work on more important areas of computing such as research and development.
References
Autonomic. www.research.ibm.com/autonomic. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from IBM.com website: http://www.research.ibm.com/autonomic/glossary.html
Autonomic Computing. www.research.ibm.com/autonomic. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from IBM.com website: http://www.research.ibm.com/autonomic/glossary.html
Autonomic Computing. Wikipedia.org. Retrieved April 19, 2007 from Wikipedia.org website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomic_Computing
Autonomic
Nervous System. www.research.ibm.com/autonomic. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from IBM.com website: http://www.research.ibm.com/autonomic/glossary.html
Haag, Stephen, and Maeve
Cummings. Information Systems Essentials.
IBM Corporation. (2007). About IBM
Autonomic Computing. Retrieved April 19, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www-03.ibm.com/autonomic/about.html
Transparency. Dictionary.com
Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved April 22, 2007, from Dictionary.com
website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/transparency
Autonomic Computing
Group 9
|
1. |
What is
Autonomic Computing? |
|
A. |
Nothing really other than a regular computer |
|
B. |
Self-managing computers that act much like the autonomic nervous
system |
|
C. |
Another name for the human nervous system |
|
D. |
None of the above |
|
2. |
What is a
Competitive Advantage |
|
A. |
An imaginary idea of
greatness |
|
B. |
An advantage over your competitors that you have created by
providing better goods and services |
|
C. |
An automatic process that occurs in autonomic computing |
|
D. |
None of the above |
|
1. 3.3. 2.3. |
When did IBM
start researching Autonomic Computing? |
|
A. |
1986 |
|
B. |
2001 |
|
C. |
2007 |
|
D. |
None of the above |
|
4. |
What is a
Benefit of Autonomic Computing? |
|
A. |
Reduction in costs |
|
B. |
Decreased efficiency |
|
C. |
Increased job availability |
|
D. |
None of the above |
|
5. |
What is one of
the main things that allow Autonomic Computing Systems to work? |
|
A. |
Closed control loops |
|
B. |
Plug and play capability |
|
C. |
Data storage devices |
|
D. |
None of the above |
|
6. |
What is the
Goal of Autonomic Computing? |
|
A. |
Increase productivity |
|
B. |
Minimize complexity for users |
|
C. |
Lower costs |
|
D. |
All of the above |
|
7. |
What is the
Biggest Technical problem facing Autonomic Computing? |
|
A. |
Ability of systems to communicate with each other |
|
B. |
The fact that autonomic computing doesn’t exist yet |
|
C. |
Autonomic systems don’t
require any other systems, they do it all |
|
D. |
None of the above |
|