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System Management ARTS Awarded Patent For "Codebook Event Correlation"
Breakthrough Approach Accurately Diagnoses Root Cause Networked System Problems in Real-Time White Plains, N.Y. --July 22, 1996-- Up to now, network problems diagnosis has been a time-consuming, labor-intensive, error-prone process resulting in harmful and costly network downtime. Now, a method for automating real-time network problem isolation changes all that. Codebook Event Correlation, invented by computer scientists at System Management ARTS Inc (SMARTS), proactively identifies emerging problems and their root causes using a novel modeling and correlation approach. The principle behind codebook correlation is simple. Since problems typically cause multiple symptoms, both in the software or hardware elements where they originate, and in related software or hardware elements, the set of symptoms can be treated as a "code" that identifies the problem. Correlation is then a simple fast process of matching the observed symptoms to problems codes. The technology was awarded United States Patent No.5,528, 516. Dr. Shaula Alexander Yemini, president of SMARTS, said that 'a single problem can cause exceptional events in numerous network, system and application elements. It's hard to distinguish problems from symptoms, but making this distinction is essential for fixing problems before they escalate. We've found a way to automate this problems isolation process; it's fast, accurate, and automatically adapts to network changes." According to the U.S. Patent Office's published abstract of Apparatus and Method for event Correlation and Problem Reporting, the technology "provides for efficiently determining the sources of problems in a complex system based on observable events. The problem identification process is split into two separate activities including (1) generating efficient codes for problem identification and (2) decoding the problems at runtime." Codebook Correlation is used in SMARTS Distributed Event Correlation System (DECS). Early adopters of this advanced network management technology include Motorola Satellite Communications, which is used DECS's codebook event correlation for their IRIDIUMŪ project. The IRIDIUMŪ project is a worldwide satellite-based communications system designed to permit voice, data, fax and paging services anywhere around the globe. Benefits of DECS's Codebook Correlation include: Cross-object correlation DECS correlates events across managed network, system, and application objects. This enables it to isolate root cause problems in complex systems - even when faulty objects appear healthy and healthy objects appear faulty. High Speed The codebook approach is super-fast because (1) the number of symptoms to monitor and analyze is reduced during codebook generation, (2) no search occurs in the real-time correlation path, and (3) the minimal distance decoding process is very fast. Robust to lost and false alarms Coding algorithms enable DECS to add error-correcting symptoms that provide robustness with respect to lost events, spurious events in event information models. Adaptable to topology changes DECS computes the casual propagation of problems to symptoms instead of storing casual propagation rules. This enables DECS to dynamically adapt to topology changes in the network, which is essential because large networks often add, move, change network, system, and application objects. Scaleable DECS is based on a parallel distributed architecture of cooperating Domain Managers. A large system can apply multiple DECS servers to distribute the management load. SMARTS, a spin-off from Columbia University's DCC Lab, develops software that automates the operations and management of complex networked systems. The company recently announced a modular Version 1.1 of InCharge For The Internet, a shrink-wrapped application that automates the management of Internet/Intranet services and the servers on which they run. For more information, contact: Dr. Shaula Alexander Yemini System Management ARTS, Inc. 14 Mamaroneck Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 Telephone: 1-914-948-6200 Fax: 1-914-948-6270 E-mail: yemini@smarts.com World Wide Web: http://www.smarts.com |