The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is a not-for-profit association consisting of members from hundreds of companies that share the goal of standardizing data-storage solutions. SNIA is working on the Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI), which defines the behind-the-scenes functional interface that applications will use to create, retrieve, update, and delete cloud-based data items.
A goal of CDMI is that cloud-based storage facilities be discoverable to applications. This means that applications can query the facility for the data services it provides. In addition, CDMI is setting the stage for metadata assignment to data items that will be key to the development of Web 3.0 semantic capabilities. FIGURE 6-15 illustrates the SNIA CDMI website.
Case Study: Discuss the role of metadata within cloud-based data storage.