PIF-POF Standard?

Question

Is PIF-POF an open standard? I.e. does it have a documented wire format? Or is it closed/proprietary?
     We are currently looking at the hardware capability to set up any-to-any (e.g. XML to arbitrary binary) data format transformation on the wire. We are planning to expose XML-based/SOAP-based web services on the outside and use the hardware capability to transform the web service call into a binary-format service call on the inside, so our Java processes are spared the necessity of parsing XML.
     We are evaluating the various documented binary data formats for object/invocation representation and PIF-POF looks appealing due to its built-in class evolution support.
     If we had documentation as to how should the PIF-POF message look on the wire, we could transform our external XML calls directly into Coherence*Extend-style internal binary calls.
     Do you think this is something that can be accomplished or is it a little far-fetched for now?
     Thank you,
     Denis.

Answer 1

Is PIF-POF an open standard? I.e. does it have a     > documented wire format? Or is it closed/proprietary?
     It has a documented wire format and a documented API (Java, C# and soon C++), but neither is "open" in the sense of open standards (such as HTTP).
     > We are currently looking at the hardware capability
     > to set up any-to-any (e.g. XML to arbitrary binary)
     > data format transformation on the wire. We are
     > planning to expose XML-based/SOAP-based web services
     > on the outside and use the hardware capability to
     > transform the web service call into a binary-format
     > service call on the inside, so our Java processes are
     > spared the necessity of parsing XML.
     >
     > We are evaluating the various documented binary data
     > formats for object/invocation representation and
     > PIF-POF looks appealing due to its built-in class
     > evolution support.
     >
     > If we had documentation as to how should the PIF-POF
     > message look on the wire, we could transform our
     > external XML calls directly into
     > Coherence*Extend-style internal binary calls.
     >
     > Do you think this is something that can be
     > accomplished or is it a little far-fetched for now?
     It is something that could be accomplished. Note however that PIF/POF is at its best when it is being bound to something, e.g. a Java class. Otherwise, you would want to evaluate the various "binary XML" standards.
     To learn more, ask your account manager for a copy of the PIF/POF specification.
     Peace,
     Cameron Purdy
     Tangosol Coherence: The Java Data Grid