EMI datalib: Joining the best of ARC and gLite data libraries

To manage data in the grid, with its jungle of protocols and enormous amount of data in different storage solutions, it is important to have a strong, versatile and reliable data management library. While there are several data management tools and libraries available, they all have different strengths and weaknesses, and it can be hard to decide which tool to use for which purpose. EMI is a collaboration between the European middleware providers aiming to take the best out of each middleware to create one consolidated, all-purpose grid middleware. When EMI started there were two main tools for managing data - gLite had lcg util and the GFAL library, ARC had the ARC data tools and libarcdata2. While different in design and purpose, they both have the same goal, to manage data in the grid. The design of the new EMI datalib was ready by the end of 2011, and a first prototype is now implemented and going through a thorough testing phase. This presentation will give the latest results of the consolidated library together with an overview of the design, test plan and roadmap of EMI datalib.