1. Introduction
This chapter describes the purpose, intended readers, and scope of ODS-RAM.
1.1 Purpose and Significance
"Open Data Spaces (ODS)" is an open and scalable foundation for distributed data, built on organizational and national diversity by design. “Open Dataspaces” as a general term in this document refers to a new-generation distributed data management approach and its constituent concepts. Its design draws on the original dataspace papers in the U.S. (Franklin et al., 2005; Halevy et al., 2006) and data mesh (Dehghani, 2019; Dehghani 2022) as its core, and incorporates verification through collaborative R&D with private companies and industry groups at a commercial level.
This document is a reference (Reference Architecture Model) presenting the technical paradigm for users of open dataspaces technology, including a layered structural model for ensuring interoperability. To realize the three pillars of the distributed architecture, Open Dataspaces adopts three core design principles: (1) Vendor-agnostic, (2) Institution-agnostic, and (3) Product-Like, Service-Oriented Design:
Vendor-agnostic: Open Dataspaces assumes multi-cloud and cloudless operation and adopts a vendor-agnostic design that does not depend on any specific company’s services or products.
Institution-agnostic: Open Dataspaces explicitly separates the institutional and regulatory requirements of specific jurisdictions from its technical specifications. It is designed for localization under various institutions and regulations and provides an architectural paradigm and technical specifications that are adaptable globally.
Product-Like, Service-Oriented Design: The problems to be solved and the functional requirements always reside in the market. Essential needs do not lie in legal systems, regulations, or the products of specific vendors. Designers must work backwards from the innovations the market latently demands and pursue Product Market Fit (PMF) through agile validation. Rigid technical specifications become obsolete, and the market rejects them. Open Dataspaces places high importance on the question of whether something contributes to Make Money, Save Money.
This document aims to ensure cross-cutting interoperability toward the realization of "Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT)" *1 and to serve as a common reference model for distributed data management.
1.2 Intended Readers and Expected Actions
The primary readers of this document is engineers involved in the adoption, implementation, and planning of data management and AI-related technologies across a wide range of domestic and international industries:
Architects and technical leads at companies responsible for deploying open dataspaces technologies
Architects and technical leads at software companies and their technical divisions seeking to implement distributed data management services leveraging open dataspaces technologies
Developers, academics, students, and others who wish to explore open dataspaces technologies.
Readers are expected to have a foundational knowledge of data management technology and business development.
This document is also intended to be referenced as a meta-architecture when designing new architectures or evaluating existing architectures for the adoption of distributed data management technologies across enterprises, industries, and national borders.
1.3 Scope
This document addresses technical approaches to distributed data management and covers the following items as a Reference Architecture Model:
In Scope:
Architecture Model
An architectural structure consisting of four layers and four perspectives
Protocol Requirements
Requirements for protocols within each layer and perspective
Out of Scope: ODS-RAM is not a reference architecture that encompasses all data management, and therefore not all projects need to reference this document. This document also does not cover the following topics:
Explanation of design philosophy and architectural paradigms
Fundamental principles and industry requirements for architectural design (e.g. context catalog)
Implementation and practices related to specific products and vendor-provided services
Legal and regulatory compliance, and legal and governance practices
Requirements, analysis, and strategies for domain- or industry-specific use cases
Explanation of technical specifications, procedures for introducing OSS (open-source software), or usage of SDKs (software development kits)
Ecosystem and community formation
Table 1 Reference Documents
Why Open Dataspaces: Design Philosophy and the Architectural Paradigm (hereinafter "Design Philosophy")
A document explaining the design philosophy and architectural paradigm of Open Dataspeces — a new technical paradigm for distributed data management across organizations, enterprises, and national borders
ODS Protocols (hereinafter "ODP")
A set of technical specifications that provide the functions realizing distributed data management based on ODS-RAM and ensure the interoperability of open dataspaces
Open Data Spaces Introductory Guidebook for Users
A guide for business practitioners and corporate planning staff at companies that use or implement data management and AI services, to evaluate entry into dataspace-related businesses from the perspectives of whether to enter, what roles they can fulfill, and how to approach initial investment
Open Data Spaces Introductory Guidebook for Developers
Aimed at engineers who are in a position to adopt, implement, or provide services based on Open Dataspaces technologies, this document organizes the foundational concepts and minimum configuration for beginning design, implementation, and operations
Whitepaper: Ouranos Ecosystem Dataspaces Reference Architecture Model
A whitepaper published in February 2025, presenting problem definitions and basic principles from the initial design stage, industry requirements (context catalog) as design inputs, and the component configuration
Footnotes
1 Proposed at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (Davos Forum) in Geneva, Switzerland in 2019, and incorporated into the Leaders' Declaration with the support of heads of state at the G20 Osaka Summit in June 2019. Digital Agency. Overview of DFFT. https://www.digital.go.jp/en/policies/dfft/dfft-overview
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