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Part II. Phased Implementation Plan for DMAC5.3. The AA shall include guidelines to enable providers developing new data streams to select formatsand metadata that can be easily integrated into IOOS. Specifications shall traverse theIOOS data-transport, metadata, and data-discovery components.5.4. IOOS standards for metadata shall allow different versions of the same data and metadata tobe traced by means of information on lineage and version.5.4.1. The number of old versions of data to be preserved is TBD.5.5. Data Formats5.5.1. The AA shall process a broad range of data to be included in IOOS (physical, biological,chemical, geological, fisheries, socio-economic) encompassing many different nativedata formats.5.5.1.1. Data providers shall use only established, fully documented formats, (TBD)which the data-transport methods handle. The data transport methods shall berobust and handle many established common formats.5.5.1.2. It is not a requirement that each center be proficient in every format.5.5.1.3. All metadata shall meet a common standard defined in Section 1, Metadata/DataDiscovery Requirements.5.5.1.4. If metadata do not meet the common standard, then the provider shall providea mechanism that accepts the non-standard metadata as input and creates standardmetadata as output.5.5.1.4.1. Archive centers will consider accepting data in all formats.5.5.1.4.1.1. Unique specialized formats (such as occasionally found inresearch or field data) are discouraged.5.5.2. Proprietary formats (with undisclosed internal structure and typically with proprietarysoftware) are unacceptable for long-term archiving and are prohibited.5.5.3. Each center shall provide and maintain software for accessing each native format.5.5.3.1. Centers shall maintain configuration management of the software in order tomaintain currency with changing data formats.5.5.3.2. This software shall also provide further documentation of data sets and changesin their lineage.5.6. File-compression techniques used for transferring IOOS data shall use standard protocols withopen documentation, such as GNU zip.6. Data Preservation6.1. All four component data centers of the AA will be responsible for acquiring and providingdata, but only the archive centers will be primarily responsible for preserving data long term.6.1.1. Long term is defined as much longer than the typical funding period of an oceanographicresearch project or the career of a principal investigator.71