Fedora Commons and the DSpace Foundation, two open-source software platforms for accessing, managing and preserving scholarly material, have announced the launch of the DuraSpace Organization. Through this initiative, Fedora and DSpace seek to jointly provide leadership and innovation in open source technologies for global communities who manage, preserve and provide access to digital content. DuraSpace will aim to sustain and grow the founding partners' flagship repository platforms - Fedora and DSpace.
The new organisation will focus on supporting existing communities and will also engage a larger and more diverse group of stakeholders in support of its not-for-profit mission. It will be led by an executive team consisting of Sandy Payette as Chief Executive Officer; Michele Kimpton as Chief Business Officer; and Brad McLean as Chief Technology Officer.
DuraSpace will also expand its portfolio by offering new technologies and services that respond to the dynamic environment of the web and to new requirements from existing and future users. The first new technology to emerge will be a web-based service named 'DuraCloud.' A hosted service, DuraCloud seeks to leverage the cost efficiencies of cloud storage and cloud computing, while adding value to help ensure longevity and re-use of digital content. DuraSpace Organisation is developing partnerships with commercial cloud providers who offer both storage and computing capabilities.
DuraSpace will support both DSpace and Fedora by working closely with both communities and, when possible, develop synergistic technologies, services and programmes that increase interoperability of the two platforms. It will also support other open source software projects including the Mulgara semantic store, a scalable RDF database.
