[E-Lang] FW: Research ideas in HDC

[Karp, Alan]

The last paragraph is quite disturbing.  How many security holes do you
think they'll introduce?  The good news is that they probably won't be
fixing any E programs.

_________________________
Alan Karp
Principal Scientist
Decision Technology Department
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories MS 1U-2
1501 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
(650) 857-3967, fax (650) 857-6278
https://ecardfile.com/id/Alan_Karp
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Alan_Karp/
 
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> > 
> > IBM software to prevent server failures
> > By Bloomberg News
> > January 21, 2001, 4:10 p.m. PT
> > 
> > ARMONK, N.Y.--IBM, the giant computer maker, said it has 
> > created software
> > that
> > senses when a server computer is nearing a crash and safely 
> > shuts it down.
> > 
> > The product uses artificial intelligence to predict when 
> > server software is
> > about to lock up, said Tom Bradicich, director of computer 
> > architecture and
> > technology for IBM's lower-priced xSeries servers. Until now, 
> > servers, which
> > run
> > corporate data networks and Web sites, could be shut down 
> > regularly and
> > restarted to avoid many software lockups, but crashes 
> > couldn't be predicted.
> > 
> > The new tool advances a developing field of "self-healing" 
> > software aimed at
> > reducing costly server downtime. IBM and rivals such as Sun 
> > Microsystems
> > sell
> > their products with software that reacts to problems or 
> > transfers upgrades
> > automatically from the Internet. IBM believes that its 
> newest feature,
> > called
> > "software rejuvenation," is the first to predict failures so 
> > they can be
> > prevented, keeping key business operations running.
> > 
> > "It's significant because it's proactive instead of being 
> > reactive," said
> > Stacey
> > Quandt, an analyst at Giga Information Group, a technology 
> > research and
> > consulting company.
> > 
> > Shares of Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM rose $2.94 to $111.25 on 
> > Friday. They've
> > risen
> > 31 percent since Jan. 1 and are the third-best performer this 
> > year in the
> > Dow
> > Jones Industrial Average.
> > 
> > Servers are now at the center of corporate data networks and process
> > electronic
> > transactions around the clock, so companies can't afford 
> > unexpected server
> > failures.
> > 
> > "Server downtime is associated with software more times 
> than any other
> > reason,"
> > Bradicich said. These days, he said, crashed Web servers can 
> > create "a huge
> > financial loss and a huge customer-satisfaction loss."
> > 
> > "Aging" software
> > 
> > Lockups occur as often as weekly or monthly, Bradicich said, because
> > otherwise
> > sound software accumulates coding abnormalities that build up 
> > and drain
> > memory
> > in a process called "aging." If a computer isn't restarted to 
> > clear the
> > erroneous instructions, the microprocessor eventually won't 
> > know what to do
> > next, and it freezes.
> > 
> > Aging also occurs in personal computers, he said, although it 
> > may be less
> > noticeable because a PC is shut down and restarted more 
> > often, resetting the
> > software. Aging typically doesn't affect big mainframe 
> > computers because the
> > programming is carefully "scrubbed" of errors, and such 
> > systems integrate
> > hardware and software more closely than servers or PCs do, 
> > Bradicich said.
> > 
> > IBM's "software rejuvenation" tool measures how much work a 
> > server is doing
> > and
> > assesses the stress it's under, Bradicich said. If a failure 
> > is predicted,
> > the
> > software automatically can schedule downtime, transfer 
> tasks to other
> > servers
> > and restart the suspect device.
> > 
> > The rejuvenation feature will be part of a software package 
> called IBM
> > Director,
> > which comes with xSeries servers. The xSeries runs on Intel 
> > processors and
> > Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The tool also will 
> > work on servers
> > running the Linux operating system, Bradicich said.
> > 
> > IBM researchers, he said, are now trying to perfect 
> software that will
> > identify
> > and repair the underlying coding errors that cause software aging.
> > 
> > Copyright 2001, Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved.
> > 
>