* Spec dictates how fixed content metadata is stored
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) launched a working group last week that will create a standard interface for applications generating fixed content.
The XAM Working Group will use the eXtensible Application Method (XAM) as a method that dictates how fixed content metadata is stored.
SNIA will create an XAM community of storage and software vendors and end-users to ensure that the XAM specification meets the needs for a fixed content data interface standard. These needs include interoperability, security, long-term records retention and automation for information lifecycle management.
The working group will develop an XAM software reference implementation and associated software tools. The group will work with SNIA’s Fixed Content Aware Storage Working Group.
More than 40 companies are working on the XAM initiative. SNIA is expecting to develop an early XAM prototype by this fall, with the specification being released in the first half of next year. XAM will be submitted to ANSI and the International Standards Organization.
XAM is expected to simplify the work independent software vendors need to do to deliver interoperable applications for long-term storage of unstructured data. It will make it easier for customers to automate the migration of data from one storage tier to another.
At Storage Networking World in Dallas this fall the group will show off a multi-vendor fixed content deployment.
