Tivoli sells developers on autonomic computing -- ADTmag

Tivoli sells developers on autonomic computing

By Peter Bochner
August 28, 2002

Developers at large corporations sometimes have to slow down the implementation of code because of issues in deploying applications. That's one reason IBM wants to make it easier for developers to work with its Tivoli systems management software, said Sandy Carter, vice president of marketing at Tivoli. She said today's developers are doubly under the gun ''to produce high-quality code faster, and to get that code into deployment. If we can help developers deploy faster, they can focus on the next revision instead of maintenance of the code.''

As part of its new focus on developers, Tivoli has started opening up its APIs to developers. ''For example, by writing to Tivoli Access Manager APIs, developers would only have one line of code to write,'' said Carter.

While IBM is currently busy trying to make it easier for developers to integrate J2EE and XML applications with products such as Tivoli Access Manager, it is also scampering to sell developers on its vision of autonomic computing.

Today's CIOs are not merely being asked to fix problems, but to ensure problems never happen. Hence the need for autonomic computing -- the self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimizing and self-protecting software that allows a system to do much of the management work itself. ''Autonomic capability means a more stable and a more available system,'' explained Carter. ''That's the direction Tivoli is headed in. It means Tivoli will be able to monitor the system so it doesn't let you get to the point where your system shuts down. But for a customer to take advantage of autonomic computing, you need developers to build on top of that.''

Developers who want to learn more about autonomics can check IBM's Tivoli Developer Domain Web site. The site, which offers developers resources and tools, went live in May and has garnered 30,000 page views and 15,000 click-throughs. ''That's a new record for IBM,'' said Carter. ''It shows that developers are very hungry for Tivoli technology.''

One of the most popular downloads on the site, she said, is a privacy wizard that a developer can use to create a privacy policy for their organization.

Another key element for developers is IBM's Solution Partnership Centers (SPCs), which provide the latest tools for testing new applications -- the hardware, software and middleware that may be prohibitively expensive for most development shops to keep on hand. At the 12 U.S. SPCs, a developer can port, validate or test Tivoli applications; many of these test capabilities are also available online. ''The Web is our hub of info for the masses of developers,'' said Carter.