Cloud-based content centric storage for large systems

Content centric storage refers to a paradigm where applications access data objects through information about their content, rather than their path in a hierarchical structure. The application does not need any knowledge about the data store organization, or the place in a storage hierarchy. Rather, the application is able to query for the desired content based on metadata associated with the data objects. We illustrate the need for content centric storage and access through an example from a media production application. Our approach for building an industrial-capable content centric storage employs a cloud storage technology where metadata is treated as first class citizen and extends this technology with an API layer that manages and leverages metadata regarding content.