Autonomic Computing for SOA
Rob Cutlip, Software & Solution Architect, Autonomic
Computing, IBM Tivoli
Service-oriented architecture has emerged as the most significant
shift in how business applications are designed, developed, and
implemented in the last decade. Gartner predicts that SOA will provide
the basis for 80% of new development projects by the year 2008. SOA
provides a flexible, robust infrastructure to model, assemble, deploy,
and manage business processes for on-demand business environments. In
this session, we examined how Autonomic Computing supports, complements,
and exploits service-oriented architectures by enabling the flexible
self-managing IT infrastructure that SOA demands. In many IT
environments today, as much as 70 % of the budgets are dedicated to IT
infrastructures which include servers, OS, storage, and networking, as
well as infrastructure management. The session began with a brief
introduction to autonomic computing, its evolution and reference
architecture, as well as associated architectural patterns. It concluded
with several use cases which provide for an examination of ITIL-aligned
process flows in support of IT systems management and the challenges
presented by SOA environments.
Case Study: STMicroelectronics Staffing Agility
Mihai Moldovan, Product Manager, OSLO Software
The emergence of agent-based platforms and the implementation of
agent-based solutions in the industry area are the first step towards
the industrialization of agent technology. Mihai presented the
STMicroelectronics case study of an adaptive staffing solution. The
semiconductor giant STMicroelectronics faces big pressure from its Asian
competitors. To stay ahead of competition it needs to sieze every
opportunity and constantly adapt to new customer demands:
- Variable production loads (prototypes, small, medium, and big
series)
- Different levels of priority (low, medium, and high priority
clients)
- Tight deadlines
- Lower time-to-market for new products
Production resources management becomes critical and requires faster,
more accurate and more flexible decision-making. STMicroelectronics
relied on highly skilled managers to handle exceptions in the operator
schedule management process. The problem was so complex (9 workshops,
1200 operators, 17 different functions, 600 equipments) that managers
spent most of their time manually assigning the right operator to the
right machine and forecasting operator training programs.
STMicroelectronics chose an adaptive, agent-based solution for
automating these tasks. The solution provided higher productivity (+3%),
better resource allocations (6-month visibility; adaptive operator
scheduling) and spare time for managers to focus on higher value-added
activities (5 full time managers changed positions).
Adaptive Business Solutions in Today’s Highly Collaborative World
James Odell, IAI
We are no longer in the era of mainframe computing, when both
companies and applications were typically command and control-oriented
and organized in vertical silos. With the combination of the Internet,
fiber optics, and PCs, the business and technology playing field has
been flattened. No longer primarily top down, it has changed to more
side-by-side as individuals, small groups, and organizations interact
around the world. As a result, organizations are now demanding and
cultivating new business practices that encourage less command and
control and more horizontal connecting, collaborating, and competing.
This presentation discussed this new era and argued that agent
technology is one of the primary enablers necessary to support it. Agent
technology is now necessary to reduce costs, to improve efficiency and
effectiveness, and to support the requirements of individuals, groups,
companies, and universities as they collaborate globally. More
importantly, it will enable us to create and support a whole class of IT
applications and approaches that we could not previously have developed.
In fact, without agent technology, our current technology will not scale
to support the ever-increasing global interaction.
The Business Value of Adaptive Solutions
Chris Harding, Forum Director, The Open Group
Ingenious technology can have a high curiosity value - but this is
not why The Open Group is providing a forum for discussion of Adaptive
Business Solutions. It is the business value that provides the
justification, and The Open Group's contribution is to connect the
business and technological communities so that that value can be
realized. The Open Group's vision was described for the Adaptive
Business Solutions Work Group, and the possibilities that The Open Group
sees for its development.
Proposed mission: To bring together providers and potential consumers
of advanced software solutions, help customers evaluate these solutions,
and facilitate dialog among technical and business stakeholders.
The group agreed that it should collaborate and work towards
integrating agent technology into a conventional enterprise technology.
It is likely that Logistics (supply chain, resource scheduling) and FSI
(anti-money laundering) are among the most likely domains that will be
used as the focal points for work areas.
The group agreed that attention should be paid to the relationships
with activities in other areas of The Open Group, such as Service
Orientated Architecture, Realtime, Embedded Systems (especially
Architecting-to-the-Edge), Semantic Interoperability, Knowledge
Management, Composite Applications, and Role-Based Technology.
Each participant company should provide primary and alternate
representatives for each meeting. The purpose of this is to ensure both
continuity and momentum – without which meetings will not progress in
any meaningful way.
Face-to-face meetings will be quarterly and co-located with The Open
Group meetings. Between these meetings, ad hoc meeting may also
be scheduled. Most of the work will be done by email and conference
calls in between face-to-face meetings. Meetings are devoted to
decision-making and solving hard issues that cannot be solved by any
other means.
