IETF has approved a new Internet stanadard to simplify the use of Hexadecimal data. Behind this standard are Joachim Strömbergson, CTO at InformAsic, Patrik Fältström at Cisco Systems and Linus Walleij at Lund University of Technology

In computers, network and embedded systems there are several different types of formats for hexadecimal data. One of the more well known format is called "S-records". Typical usage of the formats are in object codes for embedded systems e.g. firmware, flash memories, FPGA configurations, routing tables etc.

–Unfortunately no one of these older hexadecimal data formats are neither open, vendor neutral or well defined. Another limitation is that they can not represent the larger data sizes that becomes more and more common in modern systems, says Joachim Sttrömbergson, CTO at InformAsic.

– S Hexdump Format (SHF) is developed as a standard for a modern and XML-based format, that is easy to implement and use in tools and computer environments. It further makes it possible to handle large data sizes and complex data structures and also includes advanced error detection by leveraging standardized cryptographic hash functions. 

Full information about the new standard format can be found at www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4194.txt

IETF stands for Internet Engineering Task Force and more info about the organization can be found on www.ietf.org