...
Since
...
2007,
...
the
...
ITS
...
Digital
...
Library
...
Technologies
...
(DLT)
...
department
...
has
...
been
...
researching
...
ways
...
of
...
addressing
...
the
...
challenges
...
associated
...
with
...
storage
...
support
...
for
...
the
...
tremendous
...
growth
...
of
...
information
...
and
...
data
...
within
...
Penn
...
State
...
University
...
Libraries
...
and
...
the
...
university
...
as
...
a
...
whole.
...
Simple
...
processes
...
used
...
in
...
the
...
past,
...
such
...
as
...
copying
...
data
...
sets,
...
finding
...
a
...
specific
...
subset
...
of
...
data,
...
or
...
replacing
...
storage
...
arrays,
...
are
...
becoming
...
extremely
...
complex
...
operations
...
that
...
are
...
too
...
large
...
and
...
time
...
consuming
...
to
...
accomplish
...
within
...
acceptable
...
levels
...
of
...
service.
...
Software
...
solutions
...
built
...
to
...
manage
...
large
...
repositories
...
of
...
data
...
also
...
require
...
application-specific
...
knowledge,
...
long-term
...
migration,
...
and
...
integration
...
challenges
...
that
...
often
...
result
...
in
...
large
...
and
...
unwieldy
...
silos
...
of
...
data.
...
To
...
begin
...
to
...
address
...
these
...
challenges
...
the
...
Storage
...
Networking
...
Industry
...
Association
...
(SNIA)
...
is
...
endorsing
...
the
...
use
...
of
...
storage
...
tiers
...
and
...
classes,
...
data
...
life-cycle
...
strategies
...
and
...
new
...
standards
...
for
...
managing
...
structured
...
data,
...
such
...
as
...
the
...
eXtensible
...
Access
...
Method
...
(XAM).
...
As
...
DLT
...
began
...
researching
...
the
...
XAM
...
standard,
...
implementation
...
hurdles
...
became
...
apparent;
...
hurdles
...
such
...
as
...
integration
...
with
...
existing
...
applications,
...
working
...
across
...
heterogeneous
...
data
...
silos,
...
and
...
hitherto
...
lack
...
of
...
application
...
of
...
metadata
...
standards
...
in
...
the
...
storage
...
domain.
...
In
...
order
...
to
...
assess
...
XAM's
...
potential,
...
DLT
...
initiated
...
an
...
Archival
...
Storage
...
Prototype
...
project
...
in
...
collaboration
...
with
...
the
...
University
...
Libraries,
...
WPSU
...
a
...
unit
...
of
...
Outreach
...
at
...
Penn
...
State,
...
and
...
ITS
...
Emerging
...
Technologies.
...
The
...
prototype
...
entailed
...
the
...
development
...
of
...
a
...
Storage
...
Services
...
Gateway
...
that
...
resides
...
between
...
applications
...
and
...
storage,that
...
consists
...
of
...
a
...
policy
...
engine
...
and
...
a
...
metadata
...
engine,
...
and
...
serves
...
as
...
a
...
mechanism
...
to
...
access
...
our
...
storage
...
pool
...
via
...
standards-based
...
protocols
...
including
...
AJAX,
...
SOAP,
...
REST,
...
HTTP,
...
and
...
FTP.
...
Our
...
project
...
team
...
included
...
metadata
...
experts
...
from
...
the
...
University
...
Libraries,
...
Outreach
...
and
...
Emerging
...
Technologies
...
who
...
led
...
the
...
definition
...
of
...
technical
...
and
...
administrative
...
metadata
...
used
...
to
...
search
...
federated
...
content,
...
create
...
retention
...
policies,
...
and
...
route
...
objects
...
to
...
tiered
...
storage.
...
Additionally,
...
DLT
...
wanted
...
to
...
demonstrate
...
how
...
the
...
use
...
of
...
metadata
...
is
...
instrumental
...
in
...
the
...
lifecycle
...
management
...
of
...
data
...
saved
...
into
...
our
...
storage
...
cloud.
...
Another
...
key
...
component
...
of
...
the
...
Archival
...
Storage
...
Prototype
...
project
...
was
...
to
...
test
...
and
...
demonstrate
...
XAM
...
capabilities
...
for
...
enhanced
...
storage
...
management.
...
The
...
project
...
team
...
focused
...
on
...
our
...
tier
...
2
...
(fixed
...
content)
...
storage
...
service
...
using
...
XAM
...
as
...
the
...
framework
...
to
...
access
...
private
...
cloud
...
storage
...
targets
...
to
...
save,
...
manage,
...
and
...
retrieve
...
fixed
...
content
...
objects
...
and
...
associated
...
metadata.
...
Fundamental
...
to
...
the
...
Storage
...
Services
...
Gateway,
...
was
...
the
...
development
...
of
...
a
...
REST
...
API
...
that
...
is
...
capable
...
of
...
performing
...
XAM
...
translations
...
when
...
utilizing
...
our
...
storage
...
cloud.
...
REST
...
is
...
a
...
well-established
...
software
...
architecture
...
for
...
many
...
web
...
developers
...
and
...
is
...
common
...
in
...
software
...
repositories,
...
therefore
...
enhancing
...
adoption
...
of
...
the
...
XAM
...
protocol
...
with
...
little
...
change
...
to
...
existing
...
code
...
or
...
skill
...
sets.