Abstract: A data exchange process is implemented by a computer system coupled for communication with a remote index server via a network. The process provides for transfer of a data block from a source host having an internal source data format, to a destination host having an internal destination data format different from the source data format. The process includes the steps of: determining characteristics of the source data format by comparing the source data format to sets of data format characteristics stored in a memory storage space of the computer system to determine if a predetermined relationship exists between the characteristics of the source data format and a particular one of the sets, and if so, a source driver associated with the particular set is accessed from memory of the computer system, the source driver being capable of extracting a data block from the source host and converting the format of the data block to an intermediate data format.