SANTA CLARA, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 16, 2012) - SNW Fall 2012 -- The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) today announced that its Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) specification, the first industry-developed open standard specifically for data storage as a service as part of cloud computing, has been designated an International Standard (IS) by the Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC 1), a joint effort of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) for the purpose of standardization in the field of Information Technology. The specification received the necessary support from participating National Members under the JTC 1 Publicly Available Specification (PAS) Process and has been designated ISO/IEC 17826.
"There is strong demand for Cloud Computing standards and to see one of our most active consortia partners contribute this specification in such a timely fashion is very gratifying," said Karen Higginbottom, Chair of ISO/IEC JTC 1. "The standard will improve cloud interoperability and is a great result of the cooperation that exists between JTC 1 and SNIA."
Michael Hogan, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and co-chair of NIST's public Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap Working Group, stressed the importance of the international voluntary consensus standards to the U.S. Government stating, "A high priority to further USG cloud computing technology adoption is the availability of international voluntary consensus-based standards for interoperability, performance, portability, security, etc. We're glad to see the JTC 1 PAS Transposition process working as intended to quickly gain consensus and approval of an international voluntary consensus standard."
The use of the CDMI standard by cloud computing and cloud storage providers enhances the types of storage services they can offer their customers and allows interoperability and portability between service providers. Based on a RESTful HTTP protocol, CDMI provides both a data path and control path for cloud storage and standardizes a common interoperable data exchange format for securely moving data and its associated data requirements from cloud to cloud. The standard is applicable to public, private and hybrid deployment models for storage clouds.
The CDMI standard and a CDMI Reference Implementation (CDMI RI) are developed by the SNIA Cloud Storage Technical Work Group (TWG) which today includes more than 230 members from more than 60 different organizations around the world. The SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative promotes the standard to advance the adoption and educates the IT communities about cloud storage. CSI member companies represent a variety of segments in the IT industry and include Basho Technologies, CA Technologies, Cisco Systems, Cleversafe, EMC, Evaluator Group, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi Data Systems, Huawei, IBM, LSI Corporation, Mezeo Software, NetApp, Oracle, Scality, Sepaton, SpectraLogic, SwiftTest, Terremark Worldwide, XIO, Xyratex, and ZTE Corporation.
Mark Carlson and Alex McDonald, co-chairs of SNIA's Cloud Storage Initiative, added, "Recognition by the ISO/IEC community is confirmation that the many thousands of hours put into development of CDMI by SNIA member volunteers has produced a high quality international specification on which vendors and customers can depend. We are pleased storage vendors and cloud providers have already announced implementations and we expect recognition as an ISO/IEC standard will further accelerate adoption."
Well regarded in the industry, SNIA standards provide an array of benefits to both vendors and end users. Vendors gain the benefits of quicker time to market, reduced costs, and greater customer acceptance than if each company were to attempt to create its own unique process for every technical interaction, while end users of products that comply with SNIA standards enjoy greater interoperability, reduced training, and ultimately lower total cost of ownership.
Ben Woo, Managing Director of Neuralytix, a New York City-based strategy consultancy specializing in the information industry, added, "Standards from industry consortia such as SNIA are absolutely key to removing the roadblocks that customers are seeing in cloud computing. CDMI makes it not only possible for customers to move data from one cloud to another, it makes it secure and easy. Adoption of the CDMI standard by Cloud Storage service providers should pick up significantly now that ISO and IEC have adopted it."
The standard will be available for purchase from the ISO Store website when JTC 1 completes its administrative and publication processes. For more information on the CDMI standard please visit the SNIA web site at http://www.snia.org/cdmi.
About the SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative
The SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative (CSI) fosters the growth and success of the market for cloud storage for vendors, service providers, and users. Members of the CSI work together to advance the adoption of the SNIA Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) standard, educate the IT communities about cloud storage, perform market outreach that highlights the virtues of cloud storage, and collaborate with other industry associations on cloud storage technical work. CSI member companies represent a variety of segments in the IT industry and include Basho Technologies, CA Technologies, Cisco Systems, Cleversafe, EMC, Evaluator Group, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, LSI Corporation, Mezeo Software, NetApp, Oracle, Scality, Sepaton, SpectraLogic, SwiftTest, Terremark Worldwide, XIO, Xyratex, and ZTE Corporation. For more information on SNIA's Cloud Storage activities, visit www.snia.org/cloud and get involved in the conversation at twitter.com/SNIACloud or http://groups.google.com/group/snia-cloud.
About the SNIA
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is a not-for-profit global organization, made up of some 400 member companies spanning virtually the entire storage industry. SNIA's mission is to lead the storage industry worldwide in developing and promoting standards, technologies, and educational services to empower organizations in the management of information. To this end, the SNIA is uniquely committed to delivering standards, education, and services that will propel open storage networking solutions into the broader market. For additional information, visit the SNIA web site at http://www.snia.org.
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