Foresights
Autonomic computing
What is it?
Autonomic computing describes an approach to the design and management of computer systems whereby the system is able to manage itself without direct human intervention. The term was born out of a 2001 IBM research initiative into self-managing systems, drawing on a biological analogy with the autonomic nervous system that controls and regulates the functions of the human body.
The principal driver for autonomic computing is the rapidly increasing complexity of computer systems. As we move toward the pervasive computing vision of vast global networks of interconnected devices and embedded intelligence everywhere, we face a situation where the design, maintenance, and management of applications and large-scale computing environments outstrips the capabilities of human IT personnel. Not only this, there is a general global shortage of the highly skilled IT staff required to manage complex applications.
These factors are a potential limiter to the future growth of IT. Consequently autonomic computing seeks to shield IT staff from the lower-level complexities of keeping systems up and running and allows them to concentrate on defining the rules and policies that provide input to the self-management process.
Autonomic computing encompasses several functional areas:
- self-configuration – the automatic configuration of system components
- self-healing – automatic discovery and correction of faults
- self-optimisation – automatic monitoring of resources to ensure optimum functioning
- self-protection – automatic detection and protection from hostile attacks.
 To learn more about autonomic computing, download our full Foresight PDF file ( 238 Kb; opens in a new window).
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