UPDATED Today IBM will announce that eLiza, its multi-billion dollar strategic effort toward developing computer systems that operate automatically has come to light. Big Blue has launched a set of three service and technology advancements aimed at bridging the gap between increasingly complex IT infrastructure and the anticipated deficit in professionals available to manage it.

Project eLiza is a vehicle for IBM to take a proactive approach at eliminating unplanned downtime, and system failures. First announced last April, eLiza came under fire from critics who questioned when, and if, such autonomic technologies would ever surface. But with hundreds of employees working across five research labs, IBM has been making headway in the project. Autonomic computing is a cornerstone of IBM’s Research and Development efforts and a pet project of its director Paul Horn.

"Customers are overwhelmed by the rate and pace of technology, so we need to simplify managing an e-business infrastructure," said Irving Wladawsky-Berger, IBM's Vice President of Technology and Strategy, in a statement. "By incorporating technology that automatically manages itself, we can minimize the degree of human management and dramatically improve performance and efficiency while we make it easier for our customers to take advantage of new technologies."

As a first step, IBM has announced managed services to identify and eliminate potential problems as they occur. Carrying the moniker e-business Management Services, these new offerings will be tailored to a customer's infrastructure. Based on rules and policies established during the initial customization period, real-time alerts will be provided to customers via a graphical "dashboard" that details issues.

Powering the services is an engine IBM calls Active Middleware Information Technology. Its job is to take business objectives and correlate them with events that occur within an IT infrastructure, IBM says.

A number of other technologies directed at automating security and management have been developed for eLiza, and are currently available under IBM's eServer platform. IBM also claims storage solutions designed to withstand physical damage and attacks by hackers are on the way.

According to Mike Nelson, IBM's Director of Internet Technology and Strategy, over 50 advances in hardware and software have resulted from work that has taken place over the past six months. Nelson told BetaNews that, "the goal of autonomic computing is to make computing resources as reliable and accessible as electricity or plumbing."

Today also marked the introduction of two new product offerings dubbed Risk Manager and Identity Director, earmarking IBM's shift toward autonomic computing. Risk Manager takes a holistic approach by pin pointing and addressing potential security weak points. Identity Director is aimed at easing the administration of complex environments.

More than 20 companies, including Nortel Networks, Terra Lycos and Merrill Lynch, have answered IBM's call last month to map the future of self-managing systems. Software giant Microsoft has yet to offer its blessing to the eLIZA initiative. IBM was quick to point out that the companies are working in tandem to support industry standards such as UDDI -– a business to business directory for web services.

A partner program has been established by IBM for vendors and customers to jointly address the issue, a move which the company hopes will secure its place atop a rapidly changing computing industry.