Big Blue opens new autonomic computing portal on developerWorks

IBM is determined to keep its campaign to encourage autonomic computing development in the public eye. On Tuesday, Big Blue and its developerWorks site announced the debut of a no-cost, Autonomic Computing Zone to help developers, ISVs, and customers at all levels learn the skills they need to build and implement autonomic environments for business transformation.

Since the first of this year, Big Blue has made a major corporate effort to focus on autonomic computing. In February, the company released the first autonomic computing developer’s kit, which is still available for free download at the developerWorks site.

The toolkit, based on the open source Eclipse universal platform, is the first integrated collection of assets and tools, with support provided, to assist software developers in designing and testing autonomic solutions. Within the first two weeks it was made available, the toolkit site recorded nearly 3,000 downloads.

In January, IBM opened its Autonomic Computing Resource Center on the developerWorks site, which has now been upgraded to the new Autonomic Computing Zone.

Autonomic computers are those that can readjust and actually repair themselves in real time, without human intervention, to keep systems working properly.

The new portal is designed to help developers understand all about autonomic
computing — from basic concepts to advanced implementations. The portal features daily and
weekly updates of articles, tutorials, news, tools, products, and events, plus a users’ forum for community building and resource sharing.

“As systems management becomes increasingly complex, ISVs, customers and developers need to get up to speed on requirements fast,” said Chris Noble, CEO of Singlestep Technologies, an IBM partner. “Adopting autonomic computing technologies
into our IT infrastructure has been made easier and faster with the
resources IBM is providing through its developerWorks site. Our customers
are already benefiting from automating processes in their IT infrastructure
through the solutions that we are delivering today with IBM.”

The Autonomic Computing Zone includes the following resources:

• A quick tour of autonomic computing, designed to demonstrate concepts such
  as control loops and autonomic managed elements. It also discusses the
  various tools that are currently available within IBM’s Autonomic Computing
  Toolkit, providing a concrete look at some of the tasks developers can
  accomplish with it
• An autonomic computing roadmap that helps you get your bearings and quickly
  get the lay of the land from an autonomic computing perspective
• A self-assessment that covers the five autonomic maturity levels and helps
  you determine where you are along the path to full, autonomic maturity
• An introduction, complete with diagrams and examples, that illustrates the
  role of the autonomic manager in a self-managing system
• News about upcoming training events, tutorials, forums and free downloads