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CORR
2006
Springer

VXA: A Virtual Architecture for Durable Compressed Archives

13 years 11 months ago
VXA: A Virtual Architecture for Durable Compressed Archives
Data compression algorithms change frequently, and obsolete decoders do not always run on new hardware and operating systems, threatening the long-term usability of content archived using those algorithms. Re-encoding content into new formats is cumbersome, and highly undesirable when lossy compression is involved. Processor architectures, in contrast, have remained comparatively stable over recent decades. VXA, an archival storage system designed around this observation, archives executable decoders along with the encoded content it stores. VXA decoders run in a specialized virtual machine that implements an OS-independent execution environment based on the standard x86 architecture. The VXA virtual machine strictly limits access to host system services, making decoders safe to run even if an archive contains malicious code. VXA's adoption of a "native" processor architecture instead of type-safe language technology allows reuse of existing "hand-optimized" d...
Bryan Ford
Added 11 Dec 2010
Updated 11 Dec 2010
Type Journal
Year 2006
Where CORR
Authors Bryan Ford
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