公开(公告)号：GB2513376A

公开(公告)日：2014-10-29

申请号：GB201307459

申请日：2013-04-25

Applicant: IBM

Inventor： SGRO ANTONIO M ,  CORTE GIANLUCA DELLA ,  DONATELLI ALESSANDRO

IPC: H04L29/08 ,  H04L9/06

Abstract: An item of plaintext (205) is encrypted using a block chaining cipher, where the plaintext is divided into blocks (2051-N) and each block is encrypted into a ciphertext block (2101-N) using the same encryption key. The first ciphertext block (2101) is encrypted using an initialisation vector (IV, 215), and each subsequent block is encrypted using a combination of the preceding plaintext and ciphertext blocks in place of the IV. The first ciphertext block may then be stored privately whilst the remaining ciphertext blocks are stored at different cloud locations. Decryption of the blocks (fig.2D, not shown) cannot be done without knowledge of the IV, even if all of the blocks and the encryption key are obtained.

公开(公告)号：GB2512847A

公开(公告)日：2014-10-15

申请号：GB201306360

申请日：2013-04-09

Applicant: IBM

Inventor： CORTE GIANLUCA DELLA ,  SGRO' ANTONIO ,  DONATELLI ALEX ,  PROIETTI STEFANO

IPC: G06F9/50 ,  G06Q10/06

Abstract: Disclosed is a computer-implemented method of predicting the required number of servers for a future computing workload. The method comprises determining the number of servers in three classes of servers and predicting the future number of servers in the different classes based on a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered-Algorithm. The three classes are, class S are servers that are adapted to deploy the application, class I are servers that deploy the application and class R are servers that are disconnected from the network. The algorithm is based on the deployment rate, un-deployment rate and a removal rate. The deployment rate is the number of servers leaving class S moving to class I, the un-deployment rate is the number of servers leaving class I moving to class S, and the removal rate is the number of servers leaving class I and moving to class R, all in unit time. Such that the total number of servers required in the topology of the computer network in the data centre at a future time t is calculated.

公开(公告)号：GB2529721A

公开(公告)日：2016-03-02

申请号：GB201415426

申请日：2014-09-01

Applicant: IBM

Inventor： DONATELLI ALEX ,  SGRO ANTONIO MARIO ,  CORTE GIANLUCA DELLA

IPC: G06F21/00

Abstract: Temporary authorisation for access to protected operations is controlled based on user capability for a proposed activity. An escalation request may be received for a protected activity by a user not authorized to perform the protected activity. Activity indicator(s) indicative of a skill required to perform the protected activity may be compared with user skill indicator(s) to determining an indication of a capability of the user to perform the protected activity and a temporary authorization granted or denied lasting for a limited time window. Escalation requests may be assigned to activity catagories. A skill coefficient may be used to indicate experience in different skills catagories. The performance of the activity may be monitored to update the user skill level, and where requests are denied learning actions may be provided to the user.

公开(公告)号：GB2509685B

公开(公告)日：2015-05-20

申请号：GB201200043

申请日：2010-05-17

Applicant: IBM

Inventor： CORTE GIANLUCA DELLA ,  BORGHETTI STEFANO ,  SGRO ANTONIO ,  GIANFAGNA LEONIDA

IPC: G06F9/50

Abstract: The method of the present invention provides an automatic and optimized selection of the network topology for distributing scheduling of jobs on the computers of the modified network topology. The automatic and optimized selection of the network topology starts from the current topology and a desired number of additional connections. In this way the method of the present invention provides a higher convergence speed for the modified consensus algorithm in comparison, e.g., to a simple ring network. The method exploits the so called small-world networks. Small-world networks are more robust to perturbations than other network architectures. The preferred embodiment provides a workload scheduling system which is highly scalable to accommodate increasing workloads within a heterogeneous distributed computing environment. A modified average consensus algorithm is used to distribute network traffic and jobs amongst a plurality of computers.

公开(公告)号：GB2509685A

公开(公告)日：2014-07-16

申请号：GB201200043

申请日：2010-05-17

Applicant: IBM

Inventor： CORTE GIANLUCA DELLA ,  BORGHETTI STEFANO ,  SGRO ANTONIO ,  GIANFAGNA LEONIDA

IPC: G06F9/50

Abstract: The method of the present invention provides an automatic and optimised selection of the network topology for distributing scheduling of jobs on the computers of the modified network topology. The automatic and optimised selection of the network topology starts from the current topology and a desired number of additional connections. In this way the method of the present invention provides a higher convergence speed for the modified consensus algorithm in comparison e.g. to a simple ring network. The method exploits the so called small-world networks. Small-world networks are more robust to perturbations than other network architectures. The preferred embodiment provides a workload scheduling system which is highly scalable to accommodate increasing workloads within a heterogeneous distributed computing environment. A modified average consensus algorithm is used to distribute network traffic and jobs amongst a plurality of computers.

公开(公告)号：GB2505412A

公开(公告)日：2014-03-05

申请号：GB201215214

申请日：2012-08-28

Applicant: IBM

Inventor： CORTE GIANLUCA DELLA ,  SGRO ANTONIO MARIO ,  DONATELLI ALESSANDRO

IPC: G06F9/50

Abstract: A plurality of networked computing nodes 204-216 may be arranged as a connected graph defining at least one direct neighbour to each networked computing node. At each node a first workload indicator of the node i, at a first stage before a new task 402 is started is determined. An estimated workload indicator, assuming that the new task is performed by node i is determined as are estimated workload indicators of each direct neighbour. A decision is taken whether to move 502 the new task to another computing node using a modified consensus algorithm and the new task may be moved to one of the direct neighbouring nodes. The receiving node may repeat the process with reference to its direct neighbouring nodes such that workloads are collaboratively balanced within the plurality of networked computing nodes without centralized job assignment. The workload indicator may be based on one or more of CPU usage, memory usage, response time, network traffic and disk I/O traffic.

公开(公告)号：GB2504327A

公开(公告)日：2014-01-29

申请号：GB201213292

申请日：2012-07-26

Applicant: IBM

Inventor： SGRO ANTONIO M ,  CORTE GIANLUCA DELLA ,  DONATELLI ALESSANDRO

IPC: G06Q10/06 ,  H04M3/523

Abstract: A method of controlling a support centre comprising receiving requests for servicing of a product 406, associating a service level with each request 412, determining a list of agents capable of meeting the service requirement, 415 ranking the agents based on characteristics of the agents and selecting the agent with the lowest ranking to perform the service 418. An agents availability may be checked prior to selection 433. Agents may only be selected that meet a required minimum service level. The ranking may be based upon the types of support requests an agent is adapted to serve. Agent performance including the type of request addressed, the time taken to address requests, the severity of request and their success rate in dealing with requests may be recorded. Also disclosed is a system and computer program for performing the method.