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From USA Today, Friday, April 27, 2001, Section B [Money], p. B1.
See http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/
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Move over, Deep Blue, Eliza's next
IBM plans computer smart enough to beat hackers
By Edward Iwata, USA Today
In one of its most ambitious projects ever, IBM unveiled a multibillion-dollar research offensive Thursday to create business computers capable of doing simple tasks on their own.
Over the next 5 years or so, Big Blue will marshal hundreds of scientists and pour several billion dollars into Project Eliza, short for "e-lizard."
The name comes from IBM's chess-playing supercomputer, Deep Blue, which had the brainpower-equivalent of a lizard. Eliza's offspring will have even more processing power, IBM says.
Move over, Deep Blue, Eliza's next
IBM plans computer smart enough to beat hackers
By Edward Iwata, USA Today
In one of its most ambitious projects ever, IBM unveiled a multibillion-dollar research offensive Thursday to create business computers capable of doing simple tasks on their own.
Over the next 5 years or so, Big Blue will marshal hundreds of scientists and pour several billion dollars into Project Eliza, short for "e-lizard."
The name comes from IBM's chess-playing supercomputer, Deep Blue, which had the brainpower-equivalent of a lizard. Eliza's offspring will have even more processing power, IBM says.
The aim: to create "intelligent" computers capable of
handling simple tasks, such as correcting system failures and warding
off attacks from hackers.
If such servers ran the Nasdaq Stock Market, for instance, they
could instantly detect a sharp upsurge in stock trading, then adjust
quickly to the higher demand. No technicians would be needed to
monitor the system or troubleshoot.
Eliza's technology also could be used in Blue Gene, IBM's supercomputer under development and aimed for biotechnology research.
Since the 1970s, scientists have researched artificial intelligence, seeking to create computers that could reason like humans. IBM's supercomputers and the business servers developed by Project Eliza won't replicate human intelligence. Rather, they will crunch numbers at extraordinary speeds, processing trillions of transactions a second.
For years, technologists at IBM, Intel, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer have sought to develop such computers. IBM's project is the largest corporate move in this direction, and IBM has a 2- to 4-year lead over competitors, analysts say.
Reaching Eliza's goals won't be easy, though. Analyst Jonathan Eunice of research firm Illuminata says the research challenges will be costly and complex - like the U.S. space program or the medical quest to cure cancer. And the advances will come in small steps, not one huge leap.
"It's as if they announced they're going to the moon," Eunice says. "IBM has the resources and the intellectual property to do it. But they're going to be employing a lot of engineers for a long time to fully realize that vision."
Today, large business computers, called servers, are limited to simple back-office tasks, such as collecting data on customers. The servers also crash often.
"This is definitely a grand challenge," says Irving Wladowsky-Berger, IBM vice president of technology and strategy. "The ultimate goal is a system that never goes down."
IBM also is experimenting with a huge prototype of a fully automated server farm in New York state called Project Oceano.
When Web traffic sharply rises, the computer system adds more servers, increases bandwidth or slows the incoming traffic to ward off system overload.
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Jerry P.Becker
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-4610 USA
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903 [H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-4610 USA
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903 [H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
