OASIS Launches Initiative to Standardize REST-based Open Data Protocol (OData) - MarketWatch

“The OASIS international consortium has launched a new initiative that will standardize OData, a REST-based protocol that simplifies the querying and sharing of data across applications for re-use in the enterprise, Cloud, and mobile devices. OData enables information to be accessed from a variety of sources including relational databases, file systems, content management systems, and traditional Web sites. Addressing the demands of cloud computing, OData helps create a more open and programmable Web by providing a common approach to exposing and consuming data.  More than 57 members from around the world are now participating in the OASIS OData Technical Committee. Work has already begun. The group recently convened its first meeting where members agreed on a work agenda, elected co-chairs, and welcomed new supporters of the initiative. ‘The timing was right to transition OData to a recognized, open-standards process, and OASIS was a natural choice,’ noted Barbara Hartel of SAP AG, co-chair of the OASIS OData Technical Committee. ‘Our focus with OASIS is to build on version 3 of the core OData protocol. We intend to address requirements for extensions related to data aggregation, temporal data, JSON documents, and XML documents as streams.’ ‘The formation of the OASIS Technical Committee is an important next step in the advancement of OData as an open and interoperable protocol. We expect the work done by the OData Technical Committee to open up new possibilities in providing open data for the open web,’ said Ram Jeyaraman of Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation, co-chair of the OASIS OData Technical Committee.  OData began as an open project on the public OData site ( www.odata.org ) three years ago. OData producers, consumers and libraries (many of them open source) include Java, PHP, Drupal, Joomla, Node.js, .NET, SQL Server, MySQL, iOS, WP7, and Android.  Microsoft has contributed seven OData specification components, and IBM, Microsoft, and SAP have contributed four OData extension proposals to the OASIS OData Technical Committee. ‘We're seeing a wave of Cloud standardization projects at OASIS that use REST, AtomPub, and JSON technology,’ said Laurent Liscia, OASIS executive director. ‘OData is an exciting addition to our portfolio. The response to the new Committee has been tremendous.’  The OData Technical Committee is open to all interested parties, and new members are encouraged to join at any time. Archives of the work are accessible to both members and non-members, and OASIS invites public review and comment on the work...”