Some COM objects can save their internal state when asked to do so by a client. COM defines standards through which clients can request objects to be initialized, loaded, and saved to and from a data store (for example, flat file, structured storage, or memory). It is the client's responsibility to manage the place where the object's persistent data is stored, but not the format of the data. COM objects that adhere to these standards are called persistent objects. See Persistent Object Interfaces and Initializing Persistent Objects for more information.