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What's The Problem?

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DQC Bureau
New Update

Customers have become increasingly intolerant of computer failures while

placing ever-greater demands on the technology they use. Given the complexities

of technology, solution providers and IT managers are under pressure to make

decisions in seconds.

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You hear it from customers and experience it yourself every day-computing

is becoming too complicated. The growing size and complexity of information

technology makes troubleshooting a computer problem like finding a needle in a

haystack. And the time spent finding that problem can cost an enterprise

customer thousands and even lakhs of rupees, due to downtime.

For instance, an international bank can lose as much as Rs 1 crore per hour

due to downtime resulting from security incidents, and brokerage firms can lose

double this amount per hour for the same problem, according to a Yankee Group

report.  Troubleshooting computer crashes and other problems can tie up

systems and staff for days while negatively impacting business performance. And

that's not because operators aren't well trained or don't have the right

capabilities.  

It's because the complexities of technology are difficult to figure out and

solution providers and IT managers are under pressure to make decisions in

seconds. At the same time, customers have become increasingly intolerant of

computer failures while placing ever-greater demands on the technology they use.

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SELF-HEALING COMPUTERS



Since no one is close to building defect-free software or hardware, what we

need are computers capable of running themselves with far greater levels of

intelligence built right into the technology itself.

The implications of this 'autonomic' approach are immediately evident. A

network of organized, smart computing components that give us what we need, when

we need it, without a conscious mental or even physical effort.

Today, companies rely on new technology to remain competitive and respond to

customers and partners more quickly. Yet, each time they add new hardware,

applications and devices, it actually reduces the productivity of their IT

staff, which now has a more complex infrastructure to manage.

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TECHNOLOGY THAT BOOSTS PRODUCTIVITY



Businesses can't just roll in processors and storage fast enough to avoid

meltdowns when usage spikes, or fend off viruses and hacker attacks, or manage

the different operating systems that must plug in and access information. These

include laptops, palmtops, desktops, whatever.  The workload and complexity

becomes overwhelming.

Take logs, for example. Today, even a simple e-business solution may contain

as many as 25 to 40 different log files. These log files contain a variety of

content in differing formats because solutions are built using disparate pieces

and parts, often with products from multiple vendors.

Most of the logging done today is product-centric, focusing on reporting data

that a product developer considers important for debugging the problem, rather

than providing data to debug a solution. This disparity in both the format and

the content that is made available by products makes it more difficult to write

management tools that might ease the complexity issues.

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WHY IT MAKES SENSE



Customers want compute power on demand; they want storage on demand; they

want instant access to computing services. They want their business policies

translated into IT policies with a minimum of buttons to press and knobs to

turn.

The good news is the industry is already moving in the right direction when

it comes to improving problem determination. New technologies are being

developed that will enable systems to detect, analyze and resolve problems -

and automatically diagnose the root cause. Another key to success is adopting

open, non-proprietary computing standards.

Today, when a problem occurs, there isn't an industry standard approach for

classifying it. This means that whoever is responsible for resolving the problem

must understand specific, individual messages from each of the products involved

in the problem.

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Often, a team of specialists is called in for tedious, time-consuming work.

Standards will ensure a consistent format on how data and content is logged,

essentially establishing a common language for handling systems problems.

THE BOTTOMLINE



The goal of a successful IT infrastructure is to increase the amount of

automation in the customer's business with minimal mistakes. The more you can

get human error out of the loop, the more efficient the business will be,

whether it's a financial institution, a shipping company or an online

retailer. The beauty of it is that all of the complexity gets hidden from the

user.

The logic is compelling: relief from the headaches of identifying and fixing

problems; an improved balance sheet; and much greater flexibility in meeting the

demands of running a business.  Autonomic computing will enable you to be

more responsive to your customers and environmental changes.

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R Dhamodaran is VP and Country

Executive, Software Group and Developer Relations, IBM India Ltd

EXAMPLE OF AUTONOMIC COMPUTING

A computer at your customer site freezes-up intermittently. No customer

transactions are being processed for several seconds, losing the customer

thousands of rupees in business, customer confidence and loyalty.

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Today, the IT support staff might not even find out about the problem for

more than a day. When they do, it takes a couple days to figure out what is

happening.

With an autonomic system in place, the freeze-up is detected the first time

it happens and matched against historical problem data. The settings are reset

automatically, averting any real loss of revenue and customer loyalty.

A report that the administrator reads the next day shows the action that was

taken.

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