Users and applications post data to a “shared space.” Posting data implies that (i) descriptive information about the asset (metadata) has been provided to a catalogue that is visible to the Alliance and (ii) the data is stored such that users and applications that are connected through NATO’s Digital Backbone can access it. Data assets are made available as Data Products. Communities of Interest will create shared Data Spaces. In addition, data access services will be created to help facilitate access to database stores, business logic processes, and system data. Data access services are any mechanisms that help expose data that is not otherwise available to users and applications. For example, a data access service may be a registered, accessible software interface that allows users and applications to extract information from an inventory database.