Roy Sterritt
SelfWares-Episode IV - Autonomic Computing:: A New Hope
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Building 8 Auditorium - 3:30 PM
(Refreshments at 3:00 PM)

Mr. Roy Sterritt, will talk about SelfWare-Episode IV - Autonomic Computing: A New Hope. The rapidly-growing complexity of developing, integrating and managing computing systems and networks is threatening to overwhelm the capabilities of even the most expert software developers and system administrators. This complexity is escalating the total cost of ownership of today's and tomorrow's systems.

The majority of the major players within the ICT industry and research institutes have concluded that the only viable long term solution is to create computer systems and networks that can manage themselves; popularized by IBM's open call to the industry as the Autonomic Computing initiative.

The initiative sets a vision based on the human body, which regulates its own vital bodily functions such as telling the heart how fast to beat, monitors and adjusts blood flow, etc, all without conscious effort. Highlighting a need to develop computer systems and communications that can perform similar operations on themselves to tackle the complexity and cost, without requiring constant human intervention.

The self-managing agenda outlines general self-properties; self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimising, self-protecting, self-aware, self-monitoring and self-adjusting; leading to the catch all reference of selfware.

Roy will discuss some of the ongoing autonomic research, highlighting some of the autonomics that have been influenced by past NASA missions and how future missions may benefit.

Roy Sterritt is a Lecturer in Informatics at the University of Ulster. He is active in researching Autonomic Computing with emphasis on achieving self-managing systems through the fusion of soft systems - AI (Soft Computing), Software Engineering & Information Systems for addressing complexity in systems. Roy has over 60 publications, received a research fellowship with BT Exact in 2003 entitled 'Autonomic Computing and Communications', co-organises the IEEE workshop on the Engineering of Autonomic Systems (EASe), founding member of the Autonomic Communications Forum and has worked on national and international AI and network research projects.

IS&T Colloquium Committee Host: Mike Hinchey,
Michael.G.Hinchey@nasa.gov

Sign language interpreter upon request: 301-286-8313
Request future announcements: kjeter@pop200.gsfc.nasa.gov