Made in IBM Labs: IBM Opens New Autonomic Computing Technology Center in India

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the opening of a new Autonomic Computing Technology Center in Bangalore, India. The new development center was created to address the overwhelming demand from India-based business partners and customers for technology and systems that are self-managing.

An extension of the India Software Laboratory, the new center is dedicated to advancing IBM’s global Autonomic Computing initiative, which has worked for the past five years to reduce complexity by automating processes and building intelligence into IT systems. Much in the same way the autonomic nervous system regulates and protects the body, autonomic technologies are designed to manage and heal themselves.

The center employs more than 35 developers and engineers who are responsible for creating new autonomic software, testing and supporting services, and providing enablement support for local clients, business partners and academic institutions. The center works closely with IBM’s worldwide Software Development Laboratories, particularly those in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA and Toronto, Canada to provide worldwide autonomic solutions. The Autonomic Computing Technology Center in India will also work closely with the IBM India Research Laboratory, with sites in New Delhi and Bangalore, which conducts advanced autonomic research.

“Self-managing autonomic technologies are needed by clients in many industries across the globe but it’s particularly relevant for Indian, ASEAN and Asia Pacific companies that are experiencing rapid growth,” said Harish Grama, vice president of the India Software Laboratory. “The new Autonomic Computing center in Bangalore further expands IBM’s research and development presence in India and improves our ability to meet local customer and partner needs.”

The new center builds on already strong autonomic computing momentum in India. In September 2006, a dozen India-based solution providers joined IBM’s Autonomic Computing Business Partner initiative and are working to incorporate IBM’s self-managing autonomic technology into their software and solutions. The first wave of Indian solution providers to adopt IBM’s autonomic technology has signaled a new era of computing in India, whereby technology firms are turning to IBM to help develop systems with built-in intelligence to reduce IT complexity for customers.

The Autonomic Computing Technology Center in India joins an existing center that IBM opened in the Yamato Software Development Laboratory, in Japan in July 2005. Over the past two years, the Japan center has developed autonomic components, tools and offerings for problem determination solutions; provided support for local IBM clients and business partners; and helped drive progress around standardization. Since the Japan center opened, it has been working closely with the IBM India Software Development Laboratory. This collaboration will continue with the Autonomic Computing Technology Center in India.

IBM has the broadest portfolio of autonomic-enabled products, services and solutions in the industry, with more than 500 self-managing autonomic features in 75 distinct IBM products.

Made in IBM Labs

IBM is dedicated to driving the development of promising new technologies. The Autonomic Computing Technology Center is part of IBM’s globally integrated approach to innovation -- a network of 63 major software development and research labs worldwide that develop, test and support a wide range of emerging and established technologies that span software and services.

IBM India Software Lab employs 3,200 people across five cities, making India one of the largest software development hubs for IBM worldwide. The India lab develops software products across all five brands of IBM Software Group’s portfolio namely WebSphere, Information Management, Lotus, Tivoli and Rational. The labs also house product development teams in operating systems such as AIX, Linux, z/OS and Storage Systems. There are more than fifty product development teams that work closely with other IBM Laboratories globally shipping major software product releases across the IBM product portfolio.

IBM also has the India Research Laboratory, with sites in New Delhi and Bangalore that focus on a wide array of research areas blending pure and applied research, exploring areas such as Blue Gene, speech recognition and services innovations.

For more information, visit www.ibm.com.