This Initiative will build and serve a XAM community that includes storage vendors, independent software vendors, and end users to ensure that the specification fulfills market needs for a fixed content data management interface standard. These needs include interoperability, information assurance (security), storage transparency, long-term records retention and automation for Information Lifecycle Management (ILM)-based practices. This announcement continues SNIA's expansion of XAM activities to deliver on the specification's goal of establishing standard interfaces for coordination of information and content metadata among applications and storage systems.

In January, the SNIA formed the XAM Software Development Kit (SDK) Technical Working Group (TWG) to develop a XAM software reference implementation and related software tools. The TWG's efforts will accelerate adoption of XAM and improve interoperability of the specification's implementations. The XAM SDK TWG is the first software project initiated by the association under its expanded charter to develop software for distribution to the SNIA members and the industry. This new TWG will work side-by-side with the existing Fixed Content Aware Storage (FCAS) TWG that is developing the XAM specification.

"Today, many vendors have implemented their own proprietary interfaces for applications to manage and place fixed content data, which has resulted in robust deployed solutions with limited interoperability or capabilities to share and interpret data across multiple management environments," said Vincent Franceschini, Chairman of the Board of the SNIA. "By establishing the XAM Initiative to drive the specification's adoption through the use of XAM SDK tools coupled with planned interoperability programs, we envision rapid market availability and acceptance of the standard. Together, these efforts will help provide end users with interoperable fixed content solutions that can be deployed across SAN, NAS, CAS, and other types of XAM compliant storage."

The SNIA intends to deliver an early prototype of the specification and software by the fall of 2007, with a specification release in the first half of 2008. The SNIA members plan to demonstrate a multi-vendor fixed content solution based on the prototype XAM Applications Programming Interface (API) at the 2007 Fall Storage Networking World (SNW). The SNIA also plans to submit its XAM specification for ANSI and ISO accreditation and license its XAM SDK to the industry.