News
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.