Forum Systems, a leading provider of trust management and threat protection Web services security solutions, today announced it will leverage technology demonstrated in the IBM Autonomic Computing Toolkit to advance its Forum's Seamless Security Solutions Architecture (Forum S3A(TM)). Forum S3A is an adaptive approach to building security-minded, service-oriented applications and data-level networks.

Autonomic computing technologies allow complex IT infrastructures to become self-managing, greatly reducing system management burdens so IT professionals can concentrate on business issues and innovation. Autonomic technology allows Web services security policies to be automatically updated using real-time information. Forum XWall Web Services Firewall sensors send logs to IBM's Autonomic Management Engine for detailed event analysis receiving recommendations such as corrective action to optimize the overall security posture without human intervention.

"Self-learning and self-adjusting security mechanisms are advanced weaponry a company can use to stay a step ahead of the smart hacker or latest cyber threat," said Walid Negm, vice president of product marketing for Forum Systems. "By observing real-time events and making intelligent security decisions customers are able to remain vigilant in an age of the automated Web."

The IBM Autonomic Computing Toolkit Version 2.0 with the IBM Integrated Solutions Console and Autonomic Management Engine greatly enhances the accuracy and effectiveness of policy enforcement in the case of XML-related traffic anomalies and irregularities. Forum XWall Web Services Firewall will leverage the Common Base Event format with IBM's Autonomic Management Engine to correlate vulnerability data and make precision security decisions.

"We're pleased to have Forum Systems' Web services security solutions deeply embedded with autonomic computing capabilities demonstrated in the IBM Autonomic Computing Toolkit," said Dave Bartlett, director of autonomic computing, IBM. "Applying autonomic technologies to achieve real time security management will reduce windows of vulnerability within IT solutions and improve the system's reaction time for critical security events. The value to customers will be: reduced likelihood of loss due to related security events and higher levels of confidence in the IT solution."

Forum XWall is used by Forum 1000 corporations to limit their exposures from malicious or accidental events by scanning the content of XML network traffic for corrupt data, embedded viruses and data-layer attacks. Forum XWall Web Services Firewall is the industry's only stand-alone XML-specific firewall selected by InfoWorld LEADERBOARD 2004.