v2.0 features the expansion of its Eclipse development tooling plug-ins, with support for the new Eclipse 3.0 platform (in addition to tooling support on Windows and Linux platforms).

Runtime technologies are now also supported on OS/400 and Solaris operating systems, says IBM - adding to the AIX, Linux and Windows coverage in Version 1.0.

Describing the toolkit as "an online resource center that enables ISV, System Integrator and corporate developers to rapidly deploy self-managing functions into their applications and services," IBM announced that the names of a welter of IBM Business Partners who have already deployed autonomic capabilities or standards from the toolkit into their solutions: Corente Inc., Forum Systems, Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd, Macrovision Corporation, NetFuel Inc., Network Physics, SenSage Inc., Singlestep Technologies, Tech Laboratories Inc. and Zero G Software Inc.

The CEO of one of those companies, Singlestep Technologies, explained how having access to IBM's Autonomic Computing Toolkit had allowed his company to add enhanced autonomic functionality to its Singlestep Unity solution. "Specifically," said Chris Noble, "[it] enabled us to add deeper root cause analysis to solve problems our current customers are having. The steps IBM has taken to create these resources help companies like ours get to market faster."

The toolkit, says IBM, by provides developers with "proven technology and tools" - based on industry standards - for installing, administering, debugging and resolving problems in systems. It contains embeddable components, tools, usage scenarios and documentation. It is built to work with the IBM Software Development Platform.

"IBM has been working closely with the developer community to bring autonomic capabilities out into the market," said Alan Ganek, vice president, Autonomic Computing, IBM. "Version 2.0 of the toolkit will bring additional support and features to make it even easier for companies to deploy self-managing solutions."

Developers can access the toolkit here.