Abstract: In a system for managing digital assets in a distributed computing environment, meta-data for the digital assets is generated by clients of the system and stored separately from the digital assets, such as at a central location. A computer system operating under control of an operating system performs categorization of the digital assets using an agent operating in user space of the computer system. The agent receives an I/O request identifying a digital asset and applies categorization information to the identified digital asset based on the received I/O request without intervention by an end-user of the computer system, and the categorization information is stored as part of an asset identification tag associated with the digital asset.

Abstract: Systems and methods for managing digital assets in a distributed computing environment are described. Meta-data for the digital assets is stored separately from the digital assets. Meta-data for some of the digital assets is copied and stored at a central location. Meta-data for the digital assets is generated by clients of the system. A method of categorizing digital assets of a computer system, the computer system operating under control of an operating system that generates input-output (I/O) requests includes: receiving, by an agent operating in user space of a computer system, an I/O request identifying a digital asset; applying, by the agent without intervention by an end-user of the computer system, categorization information to the identified digital asset based on the received I/O request; and storing the categorization information as part of an asset identification tag associated with the digital asset.