The OASIS international open standards consortium announced the approval of the Open Data Protocol (OData) 4.0 and the OData JSON Format 4.0. These REST-based standards simplify the querying and sharing of data across applications for re-use in the enterprise, cloud, and mobile devices.
With OData, information can be accessed from a variety of sources including relational databases, file systems, content management systems, and traditional web sites. OData 4.0 and the OData JSON Format 4.0 are now official OASIS Standards, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification.
OData provides a way to break down data silos and increase the shared value of data by creating an ecosystem in which data consumers can interoperate with data producers enabling more applications to make sense of a broader set of data. Every producer and consumer of data that participates in this ecosystem can increase its overall value.
'OData 4.0 reflects some important lessons learned,' said Ralf Handl of SAP, co-chair of the OASIS OData Technical Committee. 'In this new version, we've eliminated boundaries between isolated services, essentially moving from an approach of 'structured data on the Web' to a 'web of structured data' approach.'
'OData is the equivalent of ODBC for the Web. OData was always simple and intuitive, but version 4.0 applies the lessons that have been learned since the inception of OData into a clean streamlined standard,' added Ram Jeyaraman of Microsoft, who also co-chairs the OASIS OData Technical Committee. 'OData 4.0 is the result of the collective handiwork of many talented people across many organizations who collaborated in a truly remarkable fashion to accomplish the common goal of creating a standard open data protocol to create and consume data services on the Web.'
OData began as an open project on the public OData site in 2009. 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. Statements of Use for OData were provided by IBM, Mi-crosoft, and SAP as part of the OASIS Standard approval process.
OData is offered for implementation on a royalty-free basis. Companies, non-profit groups, governments, academic institutions, and individuals are welcome to participate in the OASIS OData Technical Committee, which continues to advance the standard based on recommendations and feedback provided by the OData community.
OASIS is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of open standards for the global information society. OASIS promotes industry consensus and produces worldwide standards for cloud computing, security, privacy, M2M, IoT, content technologies, business transactions, emergency management, and other applications. OASIS open standards offer the potential to lower cost, stimulate innovation, grow global markets, and protect the right of free choice of technology. OASIS members broadly represent the marketplace of public and private sector technology leaders, users and influencers. The consortium has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries.