judith meskill - soc.media.rocks

chickadee ...
Originally uploaded by jude

"... Our snow-storms as a rule
Aren't looked on as man-killers, and although
I'd rather be the beast that sleeps the sleep
Under it all, his door sealed up and lost,
Than the man fighting it to keep above it,
Yet think of the small birds at roost and not
In nests. Shall I be counted less than they are?
Their bulk in water would be frozen rock
In no time out to-night. And yet to-morrow
They will come budding boughs from tree to tree
Flirting their wings and saying Chickadee,
As if not knowing what you meant by the word storm. ..."
 
Robert Frost

According to Paul Roberts of Computerworld, IBM releases Tivoli updates for Cisco NAC.
IBM is planning to tighten integration between its Tivoli product and Cisco Systems Inc.'s Network Admission Control (NAC) technology, according to an IBM statement.
 
Paul Roberts writes: "Tivoli Security Compliance Manager Version 5.1 and Tivoli Provisioning Manager Version 2.1 have new "autonomic" features that will reduce the damage and disruption to businesses caused by viruses, worms and vulnerable software. Both products will now integrate with Cisco's Secure Access Control Server (ACS), allowing organizations to deny network access to insecure or virus-infected systems, IBM said."

iSeries Network has a short blurb on IBM's latest Autonomic Computing Toolkit version:
"...The intent of the toolkit is to help developers build self-managing functions into their applications. In addition to the OS/400 support, V2 adds Eclipse 3.0 support and expanded Eclipse plug-ins. The toolkit Web site includes scenarios showing how to use the tools in realistic situations...
 
All OS/400 bundles require PTFs SF99269 and MF34019 to be installed prior to installing any of the Toolkit bundles. You can download PTFs from the support site..."

On InternetNews.com, Jim Wagner writes about version 2 of IBM's toolkit--Toolkit, Heal Thyself.
The toolkit, according to Wagner's article, is predominantly used by IBM's Independent Software Vendor affiliates--such as Hitachi Software Egineering, Zero G Software and Macrovision.
 
Here's an excerpt regarding the components of this toolkit and the nature of this version 2 update:
 
"...The toolkit is broken down into four components: the Autonomic Management Engine (AME), which does the monitoring and execution of automatic processes; the Integrated Solutions Console, providing the interface for IT administrators; the Solution Installation and Deployment technologies, a set of technologies used to describe prerequisites and interdependencies; and Problem Determination, which finds and diagnoses problems found in network. Version 2's biggest code improvements come from the Problem Determination component..."

There is an article in WebSphere Journal by Tony Nadalin, IBM's Chief of Security Architecture. This Q and A addresses how companies can simultaneously protect their mission critical data while they connect with business partners externally.
Here is an excerpt:
 
"...What Steps Should Organizations Take to Implement a Consistent Identity Management Strategy?
An important dimension of the solution is its incremental implementation; the specific order depends on your organizational needs. The three steps to this are to 1) assess the needs of your organization, 2) identify security policies like who gets access to specific data and who controls certain access points, and 3) establish a business case and run the ROI figures. When you consider that help desk personnel currently spend up to 30% of their time resetting passwords, man hours saved can be huge.
 
Let's Say You Want to Expand Security Policies to a New Web Service You Are Deploying. What Do You Need to Keep in Mind as Some Unique Characteristics of This Type of Environment?
You need to make sure different applications can access and share information across systems. And the way you do this is by implementing an autonomic identity management strategy that takes advantage of open standards and APIs.
 
By using an open standard like J2EE, network administrators are able to extract security policies directly from an application, user profile, or data stream. It takes this directly from the packet container and centralizes this information where it can be accessed by a security administrator via an access management solution..."

Cliff Saran writing for ComputerWeekly discovers that a--Study finds poor communication is wasting developers' time. According to Saran's article:
"...Michael Azoff, senior research analyst at Butler Group, said, "Eighty per cent of software costs occur in the production stage."
 
He said a lot of time and effort was being expended fixing bugs once the software was in production. Often the lead developers in an organisation are called in when a serious bug is encountered...
 
Azoff said support costs were also increasing because of the complexity of modern applications. He recommended that users assess technologies such as the Java Management Extensions specification, which provides a way to build service monitoring into applications.
 
Using the application to check itself - autonomic computing - is one of the goals the IT industry is striving towards. The Dynamic Markets survey found that users in financial institutes were ahead of the curve with 46% of financial services users saying they used an application's own code to solve problems..."

According to PC Magazine's Cisco Cheng IBM is introducing Two New ThinkPads.
The ThinkPad G41 which, according to Cheng, includes the latest Mobile Pentium 4 3.3-GHz processor, a dual-format DVD RW, a 15-inch screen, 4 USB ports, and discrete nVidia Go 5200 graphics--starts at $999.
 
IBM's autonomic tools--Rescue and Recovery software and Antidote Delivery Manager--that, according to IBM, ease the roll-out of security updates and patches, will be preinstalled on this new laptop and can also be downloaded to install on all earlier ThinkPads.

In a press release today--OuterBay Announces Support for New IBM TotalStorage DR550 for Data Retention.
An excerpt from the press release:
 
"...CUPERTINO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 10/20/2004 -- OuterBay, a leader in information lifecycle management (ILM) solutions for applications and databases, announced today that its Application Data Management (ADM) Suite will be integrated with the IBM TotalStorage DR550, enabling customers to leverage the power of the ADM Suite with IBM's newest data retention offering that can help customers address long term data retention and regulatory compliance requirements. OuterBay's ADM Suite lowers total cost-of-ownership (TCO) and offers a critical piece of ILM -- the ability to move business application data and attachments across storage infrastructure tiers, relative to its value to an organization. By combining OuterBay's ADM Suite with IBM TotalStorage DR550, enterprises can more effectively manage the lifecycle of their data from the cradle to the grave...
 
The IBM TotalStorage DR550 also delivers autonomic features such as call home capabilities which can allow the system to alert IT staff if there is a problem. This integrated offering will provide OuterBay customers with the foundation to manage growing data retention needs associated with compliance regulations and litigation..."

Stephen Morris, in an article for informIT, writes about: The Need for Autonomic Computing.
I believe that self-diagnosing, self-healing systems are certainly in our future. And, for some of us, that future is now. Some of the more effective solutions that I have been a part of creating have had strong 'autonomic' properties.
 
In this article Stephen Morris comes to the conclusion that:
 
"...The world of software is at an important point in its evolution. The ever-increasing reliance upon and demand for software-based systems and services will soon outstrip the abilities of even the most capable IT managers. The infrastructure is rapidly becoming too dense and interconnected for human operators to maintain. Making these systems more self-managing will be a necessity rather than a choice..."

At last I complete my long overdue catch up posting process here on my knowledge notes weblog with a Market Wire press release regarding another company I have had great familiarity with over these past ten years: Chordiant Grid Enables Business Process Management Solutions.
IBM certainly has a impressive host of companies, services and providers ready to extend, enhance and complement their autonomic initiatives.
 
Here is an excerpt from this press release:
 
"...Chordiant worked with IBM to grid enable their process applications through IBM's Solutions Grid for Business Partners initiative. Working with the technical resources at the IBM Innovation Centres in Waltham, MA and San Mateo, CA, Chordiant ported and tested their solutions on a virtual grid leveraging IBM eServer pSeries and xSeries servers running Windows, Linux and AIX technologies.
 
Chordiant's enterprise business process management system (BPMS) generates transactional process-driving solutions in role-based desktops. These process-driven solutions step users through their necessary work, improving employee productivity while reducing the operational costs of processing. Chordiant customers utilising these solutions have also seen employee satisfaction improve significantly, as users are empowered through the solution to make decisions that previously had to be referred elsewhere for approval. Risk to the business can be effectively managed through the implementation, automation and orchestration of appropriate policies and processes within the application.
 
Chordiant's new grid-enabled solutions can improve application performance in real-time by utilising grid "parallelised" data access to legacy back-end systems. Specifically, parallelised data access using unused cycles in the computing grid enable customers to increase usage of existing computing bandwidth, while reducing the time taken to retrieve critical information for real-time business process applications.
 
Similarly, the combination of Chordiant's BPMS and grid dramatically improves the analytic performance (e.g. real-time offers and autonomic business process management) by using grid computing to consume unused computing cycles throughout the enterprise..."

Clint Boulton writes for internetnews.com: IBM Improves Transaction Monitoring in Tivoli.
"...Thanks to major advancements in its autonomic computing technology, IBM has updated its Tivoli management software, offering customers a map that identifies failures in Web transactions.
 
IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Transaction Performance 5.3 allows organizations to see business transactions as they flow through an IT environment, as well as discover what systems the transactions use. The software then provides response times for each step..."
 
I would like to see this. (-:=

Geoffrey Moore, Managing Partner, TCG Advisors, and Alan Ganek, Vice President, Autonomic Computing, IBM Software Group, will be two of the keynote Industry Luminaries to Discuss Technology Management Trends at Motive User Conference--Motivation 2004, to be held October 11-13 in Austin, Texas at the world-renowned Barton Creek Resort.

This year I had the distinct pleasure of meeting John S. Quarterman and of being one of many who encouraged him to start blogging.
 
Here is an excerpt from a press release announcing that John is to address Internet2 Conference:
Austin, TX (PRWEB) September 29, 2004 -- Internet pioneer, John S. Quarterman, will participate in a panel at Internet2's Fall Conference, Sept 27-30. "Can the Internet get ahead of the crackers?'" will be presented on Wednesday, September 29th. Quarterman will argue that technical solutions need to be complemented by financial risk transfer strategies such as insurance.
 
Internet2 is a consortium of education, business, and government to develop and deploy advanced network technologies and applications to accelerate tomorrow's Internet. The panel will examine new approaches to cyber-security and autonomic computing and determine whether the next generation of the Internet can be more secure than the current one. Quarterman is president of InternetPerils Inc, the leading provider of automated Internet Business Risk Management products for government, education, insurers, banks, ISPs, and e-Commerce. The Internet2 conference is focused on innovative applications and the underlying high-performance network infrastructures that enable them. Some technical solutions, including self-monitoring and self protecting networks, intrusion detection, identity management, and access control have been proposed to stem the rising tide of Internet security problems that threaten the burgeoning use of the Internet in academia, government, and commerce.

From a Business Wire press release: Network Physics Introduces NetSensory Enterprise Architecture.
An excerpt:
 
"...Like the human autonomic nervous system, the NetSensory OS can integrate a wide range of "sensory" inputs from many different sources into an integrated, real-time picture while retaining the ability to react quickly to emergencies on a local scale. The unique flexibility of the NetSensory OS permits both local and global configuration without conflict, preserving the managerial roles and responsibilities determined by business needs, rather than imposing its own structure. The NP-Director is a new global management appliance that leverages the edge intelligence of NP-2000s by collecting summary and aggregate information to troubleshoot global application infrastructure response time issues and enable top-down enterprise visibility and reporting. NP-2000 appliances form the intelligent edge via their regional collection, baselining, correlation and federated storage.
 
How The NetSensory Enterprise Architecture Works
 
After locally collecting, baselining, correlating and storing detailed application service flow knowledge, each NP-2000 reports a high-level summary of this information, along with automatic or user-programmed alerts, to the NP-Director coordinating the domain. With the NP-Director, global managers have a unified view from all appliances. The NetSensory OS in the NP-Director presents business-relevant information and alerts via a rich collection of tables, charts and topological views from which the user can drill down, transparently and automatically, to the more detailed information stored on the database in each NP-2000 appliance..."

Caught this article in Red Herring today on Scott Harmon's company--Motive, Inc.-- titled: Spreading the self-management love.
I first met Scott Harmon in 1997, when I was at Pacific Bell Internet, in the first year of his new company--Motive. Charismatic guy with a strong vision for self-healing and self-managing systems. Nice to see that Motive is still going strong and is, in IDC's Vice President of Enterprise System Management Software, Tim Grieser's opinion, a contender with the likes of Hewlett Packard's Novadigm and IBM's Tivoli.