REDMOND, Wash., May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Market demand is growing for easy access to data across multiple platforms and devices. The move to cloud computing is increasing pressure to create a more open and programmable Web by having a common approach to expose and consume data.
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Based on that demand, Citrix Systems Inc., IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp., Progress Software, SAP AG and WSO2 are proposing an Open Data Protocol (OData) Technical Committee (TC) in the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), an international open standards consortium. Citrix, EastBanc Technologies and Viecore FSD, among many others, have recently demonstrated OData applications, and hundreds of interested parties are registered on the http://www.odata.org open community mail list.
Built on standards such as HTTP, JSON and AtomPub, OData is a Web protocol for unlocking and sharing data — freeing it from silos that exist in some software applications today. The OData protocol supports serialization in multiple popular formats, including JSON and Atom/XML. With OData, developers are able to build cross-platform Web and mobile applications.
OData Use Cases Span Industries
Since its introduction, OData has reached into all sectors — from enterprise to consumer, from government to internal systems.
One example is SAP NetWeaver® Gateway technology, which exposes SAP® Business Suite software to clients on diverse platforms through OData. In addition, Microsoft customers can use OData to access SharePoint lists, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Windows Azure Marketplace – DataMarket, to name a few. Furthermore, IBM offerings such as WebSphere eXtreme Scale, DB2 and Informix also support OData.
OData is helping transform Open Government initiatives to publish government data for public use. For example, the cities of Regina and Medicine Hat in Canada and the National Government of Colombia have launched open data catalogues using the OData protocol. OData is also making access to data easier for U.K. citizens following a decision by the government to release Met Office weather information to the public.
At a recent two-day OData meetup, customers shared their experiences using OData. Citrix representatives spoke on using OData to power mobile work styles. EastBanc Technologies employees shared how they built a metropolitan transit visualization tool around OData. Representatives from Viecore described how they used OData to build advanced decision support and control systems for the U.S.