IT Strategy Clinic

Regardless of whether your business is focused on the IT Sector, you need to be aware of the strategic implications of technology on your business. This occasional column will endeavour to demystify some of the more prominent yet esoteric terms.

Today we look at AUTONOMIC COMPUTING.

What is it?

Autonomic computing essentially describes computers that can look after themselves. The term autonomic stems from our own autonomic nervous system, which regulates our bodily functions, such as heart rate and temperature management without our conscious involvement.

So autonomic computing refers to self-managing computers that require little or no human support. From a recruitment perspective this could well be the death of roles such as operator and system administrator. Ultimately this could dissolve all opportunities associated with IT support.

Businesses are looking to squeeze better value from their IT investment. There is a big focus on TCO – Total Cost of Ownership. Autonomic computing looks set to play a large part in reducing TCO, and so will look very very attractive to organisations with large IT infrastructures.

All the hardware vendors are looking at autonomic computing to varying degrees, with IBM seeming to play a lead role. Interestingly Microsoft is also interested, given its relatively small focus on hardware. Perhaps it is looking to develop the first autonomic games-console?! Most likely it is looking to weave autonomic computing into its Windows operating system. This will then extend this concept into the desktop, thus providing PC support staff with a lot of free time (to pursue other careers).

IBM has created a number of rules that define an autonomic computing system. These include the ability to reconfigure itself to reflect current usage and to constantly monitor itself for optimal usage. More sinisterly it must be self-healing and able to defend itself against threats. Combine that capability with the likelihood that in the future all homes will run off a network on which all your appliances are attached and it starts to look scary.

If your PC suspects you are going to replace it with a younger model, it could well keep you locked out of your home or interfere with the cooling element of your fridge thus impacting on the quality of your nourishment. Check out the film 2001 A Space Odyssey if you want to see autonomic computing at work. Interestingly the computer involved is called HAL, which is IBM if you move each letter along one letter of the alphabet.

How can I impress friends and colleagues?

q       Step 1 – Contrive the opportunity by stating to a potential victim “Isn’t it amazing how modern technology is almost biological in its function?”

q       Step 2 – Wait for a quizzical “I’m sorry?”

q       Step 3 – Add, “Think of our nervous system, whose autonomic functioning ensures our heart beats without conscious intervention”

q       Step 4 – As Step 2.

q       Step 5 – Apply knock out punch “Well you are surely aware of initiatives by IBM and co. to establish autonomic computing as a model for reducing the overall IT department TCO?”

q       Step 6 – Look shocked, then smile and return the conversation to more mundane matters.