The InnoFabric Naming Layer is a foundational workstream focused on shared naming and control primitives for European sovereign cloud infrastructure.
It establishes open, durable, and interoperable foundations for how resources, services, and infrastructure components are identified, referenced, and governed across heterogeneous environments.
In a European context, naming is a structural concern. Without shared naming foundations, interoperability becomes fragmented, control becomes provider-specific, and long-term continuity is weakened. A common naming layer supports portability, federation, and governance across independently operated infrastructure.
Project framing
Acronym: InnoFabric Naming Layer
Title: Building shared naming and control foundations for European sovereign cloud infrastructure
Methodological area 1: XRN – eXtended Resource Naming
A central methodological area within the Naming Layer is XRN – eXtended Resource Naming.
XRN is an open standard for cloud and data-centre resource naming, maintained through the InnoFabric IWG and intended for general use across European cloud and infrastructure environments.
Its purpose is to provide a shared model for identifying and referencing infrastructure resources in a way that is structured, interoperable, and suitable for long-term use across providers, control domains, and operational contexts.
Scope
The Naming Layer focuses on:
- a common identifier model for infrastructure and services
- consistent syntax and canonicalisation rules
- resolution and indirection mechanisms
- integration with control-layer concepts
- interoperability across providers and operational domains
- reference artefacts and implementation-oriented specifications related to XRN
Draft RFCs (early versions)
The Naming Layer is being developed through an open RFC process.
The documents below are early draft versions intended to outline direction and invite feedback.
RFC-0001 — Naming foundation (draft)
Introduces the initial model for structured resource identification and canonical representation.RFC-0002 — Naming and control integration (draft)
Explores how identifiers interact with resolution and control-layer mechanisms.