A new standard for cloud storage
Working in what it called "record time," the Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA) has released an open industry standard intended to be adopted by cloud providers. The Cloud Data Management Interface
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Cathleen A. Gagne, Senior Editorial Director
standard is intended to be applied to data storage and aims to specify a REST Web-based interface to standardize data storage and transfer.
That might be a tough sell for Amazon S3, as AWS's cloud data store uses SOAP as an interface. And unfortunately for SNIA, AWS isn't really a "joiner" when it comes to open standards, industry working groups or kickball, so presumably this is a way for other providers already started on REST APIs to avoid having to develop their own protocols.
But it remains to been seen how much of a draw interoperability really is, since the point of open standards is that it's easier for your customer to move to a competitor if they want.
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