Dennis G. Shea

Autonomic personal computing

Autonomic personal computing is personal computing on autonomic computing platforms. Its goals combine those of personal computing with those of autonomic computing. The challenge of personal autonomic computing is to simplify and enhance the end-user experience, delighting the user by anticipating his or her needs in the face of a complex, dynamic, and uncertain environment. In this paper we identify the key technologies that enable autonomic behavior as distinguished from fault-tolerant behavior. We give some examples of current autonomic behavior and some general considerations for an architecture that supports autonomic personal computing. We identify its challenges to standards and technology developers and conclude with some guidance for future work.

Cloud Service Portal for Mobile Device Management

Mobile device has become an important tool and component in many businesses and used widely as a successful platform to invent and develop new applications to increase efficiency and reduce cost. Maintaining a fleet of devices for the mobile task force in a secure and scalable fashion is critical to ensure the long-term success of enterprise mobility platforms. Many mobile device management suites have been designed and implemented lately to provide some management functions to enterprise mobile fleet, but to the best of our knowledge, none of them have leveraged the power of emerging cloud computing infrastructure and there are several areas that we see great potentials for significant improvements. In this paper, we present our design for a portal to provide remote management access to virtualized device management servers hosted in a service cloud. Our design is targeted to hide the details of the device management behind a standard-based, uniform control interface that can be viewed from a cross-platform agent that can run on multiple mobile platforms. We will also describe briefly the prototype we are developing as an internal pilot.

Enterprise data access from mobile computers: an end-to-end story

Currently, hand-held and palmtop computers are widely used for personal information management. In the near future, they will also be used to access enterprise data. There are however, numerous technical challenges in enabling an end-to-end system that provides enterprise data access from mobile computers. The challenges include heterogeneity, various resource constraints, scalability and security. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of the Mobile Data Synchronization Service (MDSS), an end-to-end system that provides enterprise data access from mobile computers. Specifically, we address the heterogeneity of devices and data sources, the memory and power constraints of devices, the poor quality of communication and the need for scalability. Our system achieves interoperability and solves the key technical challenges related to enterprise data access from mobile computers.

Desktop workload study with implications for desktop cloud resource optimization

Desktop cloud is a new delivery model in which end users connect to virtual desktops running in remote data centers. This paradigm offers multiple benefits both in terms of manageability as well as efficiency improvements. However, realizing this potential requires better understanding of desktop workload and its implications for desktop consolidation. We analyze CPU and memory usage on a sample of 35 desktops using a fine-grained 10 second averaging interval. Results provide insights into achievable efficiency improvements from desktop consolidation as well as detailed autocorrelation and variability behavior as a function of number of aggregated desktops. We also propose an interactivity classification method leading to functional form suitable for estimating residual durations of interactivity states. This finding can be leveraged in on-line proactive management algorithms for desktop cloud optimization.

E-kernel: an embedding kernel on the IBM victor V256 multiprocessor for program mapping and network reconfiguration

We present the design of E-kernel, an embedding kernel on the Victor V256 message-passing partitionable multiprocessor, developed for the support of program mapping and network reconfiguration. E-kernel supports the embedding of a new network topology onto Victors 2D mesh and also the embedding of a task graph onto the 2D mesh network or the reconfigured network. In the current implementation, the reconfigured network can be a line or an even-size ring, and the task graphs meshes or tori of a variety of dimensions and shapes or graphs with similar topologies. For application programs having these task graph topologies and that are designed according to the communication model of E-kernel, they can be run without any change on partitions connected by the 2D mesh, line, or ring. Further, E-kernel attempts the communication optimization of these programs on the different networks automatically, thus making both the network topology and the communication optimization attempt completely transparent to the application programs. Many of the embeddings used in E-kernel are optimal or asymptotically optimal (with respect to minimum dilation cost). The implementation of E-kernel translated some of the many theoretical results in graph embeddings into practical tools for program mapping and network reconfiguration in a parallel system. E-kernel is functional on Victor V256. Measurements of E-kernels performance on V256 are also included. >

The embedding kernel on the IBM victor multiprocessor for program mapping and network reconfiguration

The design of a functional embedding kernel (E-kernel) to support automatic mapping of parallel programs having higher dimensional mesh or torus task graphs onto the 2D mesh network of Victor is described. E-kernel supports two levels of embeddings: in the first level, the mapping of a parallel program onto the system network; and in the second level, the mapping of a network topology onto the 2D mesh. The first level of embeddings corresponds to the support of automatic program mapping, and the second level the support of network reconfiguration.<<ETX>>

Towards Self-Assisted Troubleshooting for the Deployment of Private Clouds

Acquiring a private computing cloud is the first step that an enterprise would choose to enable the cloud model and get its considerable benefits while keeping the control within the enterprise. The enterprise level applications that provide the infrastructure enabling cloud computing services are typically built by integrating inter-related complex software components. Critical challenges of these applications are the increasing level of inter-component dependencies and the customized growth, which make recurrent deployment of such applications, as the one required in private clouds, labor intensive and error prone. In this paper we investigate the type of issues faced when deploying a cloud computing management infrastructure and propose a solution to self-assist the deployment. We show how by leveraging virtual image technologies we can detect faulty installations and their signatures early in the deployment process. We also propose a methodology to capture in a shared repository and update these signatures for reuse in subsequent deployments in the form of two level signature patterns. We explore the perspective of our solution and criteria of analysis.

IT autopilot: a flexible IT service management and delivery platform for small and medium business

IT Autopilot is a flexible architecture to support the delivery of information technology (IT) systems management services. Complex services that involve several tools require integration between the tools and automated processes that can invoke multiple tools. Designed primarily for the small and mid-sized enterprise, the architecture of IT Autopilot allows it to be deployed as a set of local and remote services delivered by the enterprise or by service providers as a flexible and extensible service offering. The IT Autopilot integrated IT service management platform is able to combine different tools and services to create specific, customized IT service solutions. Using the analogy of an autopilot on an airplane, the pilot first performs a set of manual operations to get the airplane off the ground and flying. Next, the autopilot is engaged to carry on normal flight operations. In our vision, there is an initial manual configuration step before IT Autopilot is enabled to take over and maintain the customers normal IT operational state. In this paper we explain our vision and describe the prototype system we have implemented.

The emerging model of subscription computing

Subscription computing is a package of computer and networking hardware, system and selected application software, and support services necessary to build and maintain a basic computing platform. The package commonly includes a suite of personal-productivity applications, add-ins, and utilities. Some providers include a wide range of business services through a portal. Subscription computing puts the pieces of a computing platform together as a service, rather than as a collection of separately purchased components.

BlueStar: Managed Services for Enterprise Mobility

Mobile handheld devices communicating over wireless networks now represent a capable, robust, cost-effective platform for enterprise mobile solutions. These solutions must be manageable, secure, scalable, and capable of integration with other enterprise components. The scale of enterprise mobile solution deployments demands high levels of automation to keep labor costs in check and ensure compliance with enterprise standards for security and availability. This paper describes the design and deployment of BlueStar, a prototype automated management system for the delivery of enterprise mobile services. We are currently leveraging BlueStarpsilas management capabilities within the context of a mobile claims processing solution for the property and casualty insurance industry. We show how computer-based management processes and policies contribute to high levels of automation, making it possible to deploy applications and services in a property and casualty enterprise.