I love buzzwords and catch phrases. Judicious use of the right buzzword can make you appear wise beyond your abilities. Autonomic computing is just such a phrase. It has a nice ring to it. It also has some substance and portends a trend in computing we all will welcome.

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels published the Manifesto of the Communist Party in 1848. Some 69 years later, in October 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia. In 2001, IBM published the Autonomic Computing Manifesto. Manifesto is a word with a highly charged connotation. I will presume IBM (I pick on IBM, but all the major players in this game are pursuing similar strategies) is looking to the revolutionary sense of the wordas in the next revolutionary thing in computing. I also will presume IBM is not expecting us to wait 70 years for autonomic computing to become a reality.

So What Is It?
Essentially autonomic computer (AC) systems are those that have the ability to manage themselves without human intervention or interference. The name is derived from the autonomic nervous system, that part of the nervous system that controls involuntary but necessary body functions such as digestion and temperature control. Most of the functions performed by my body are performed without my direction. I consciously begin to run, and my body responds in a number of subconscious ways. My heart beat and respiration rates increase. My muscles begin to convert glycogen to energy, my liver begins to convert fat to glycogen, and sweat glands begin secretion to carry away excess heat. The bodys autonomic nervous system controls and commands thousands upon thousands of discrete tasks in order for my body to function properly. An autonomic computing system would work in a similar manner. For example, as more users come online with increased demand for information, an autonomic computing system would bring more resources online, adding processing power, memory, and I/O channels as necessary.