IBM on Friday is unveiling technology intended to reduce complexity in software installation and packaging and has submitted it to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for consideration as an industry standard.
Dubbed Solution Installation for Autonomic Computing, the technology enables software developers and software vendors to improve the installation and support experience and simplify the software packaging process, according to IBM. Developers would be able to build packaged software for installation on a variety of platforms.
"One of the observations is that half of the problems that are surfacing in today's IT environments are stemming from configuration issues," said David Bartlett, director of autonomic computing at IBM.
The rise of heterogeneous environments has created issues related to application interdependencies, Bartlett said. IBM with Solution Installation is focusing on reducing the complexity around this issue. "No longer are products just installed by themselves or work by themselves. They're part of a larger solution," he said.
Led by IBM and Novell, the technology has been submitted to the W3C as the "Solution Installation Schema Submission." IBM is seeking formation of a cross-industry standards committee within W3C to formalize a specification for software packaging.
An XML-based packaging schema featured in the Software Installation technology is intended to lay the foundation for self-configuring capabilities in "on demand" infrastructures, in which infrastructures are self-configuring. InstallShield Software and Zero G Software also are partners on the proposed industry standard.
IBM is seeking a standard that defines what an installable unit of software is, instead of developers each having their own approaches to installation, Bartlett said. As part of the effort, IBM is developing an approach and implementation for a set of manageability interfaces that products can use to relate packaging and configuration information to resources across an IT infrastructure.
"The usefulness of this is that it will be possible to have the ISVs put multiple things together and install them in some fairly simple way," said analyst Amy Wohl, president of Wohl Associates and editor of the Amy Wohl's Opinions newsletter. Software users will find it easier to implement changes, she said.
Another analyst compared Software Installation to Microsoft's System Definition Model, albeit for multiple platforms. "What IBM is aiming to do with Solution Installation is cover a broader, cross-section of the different range of platforms," said Mike Gilpin, vice president and research director at Forrester Research.
Support for Solution Installation is being sought from vendors such as Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, and SAP, Bartlett said.
Products from IBM that use Solution Installation technology are anticipated within the next year, although each product group must make that determination, Bartlett said.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive InfoWorld Resource Alerts
3 Recommendations
