We describe the design and the implementation of the PAWN (Producer -
Archive Workflow Network) environment to enable secure and distributed
ingestion of digital objects into a persistent archive. PAWN was developed
to capture the core elements required for long term preservation of
digital objects as identified by previous research in the digital library
and archiving communities. In fact, PAWN can be viewed as an
implementation of the Ingest Process as defined by the Open Archival
Information System (OAIS) Reference Model, and is currently being used to
ingest significant collections into a pilot persistent archive developed
through a collaboration between the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the
University of Maryland, and the National Archives and Records
Administration. We make use of METS (Metadata Encoding and Transmission
Standards) to encapsulate content, structural, descriptive, and
preservation metadata. The basic software components are based on open
standards and web technologies, and hence are platform independent.