Subject: WG Action: Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol (impp)

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 08 Mar 1999 07:53:22 -0500

A new working group has been formed in the Applications Area of the
IETF. Please contact the chair or Area Directors for additional
information.

Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol (impp)
----------------------------------------------
 
 Current Status: Active Working Group
 
 Chair(s):
     Vijay Saraswat <[email-masked]>
     Dave Marvit <[email-masked]>
 
 Applications Area Director(s): 
     Keith Moore  <[email-masked]>
     Patrik Faltstrom  <[email-masked]>
 
 Applications Area Advisor: 
     Patrik Faltstrom  <[email-masked]>
 
 Mailing Lists: 
     General Discussion:[email-masked]
     To Subscribe:      [email-masked]
     Archive:           http://lists.fsck.com/cgi-bin/wilma/pip
 
Description of Working Group:
 
This working group will eventually define protocols and data formats
necessary to build an internet-scale end-user presence awareness,
notification and instant messaging system.  Its initial task is to
determine specific design goals and requirements for such a service.
The design goals document will be submitted for IETF-wide review,
and based on that review, the group's charter will be extended.

Background:

Instant messaging differs from email primarily in that its primary focus 
is immediate end-user delivery. Presence information was readily
accessible on internet-connected systems years ago; when a user had an 
open session to a well-known multi-user system, his friends and 
colleagues could easily tell where he was connected from and whether he 
was using his computer.  Since that time, computing infrastructure has 
become increasingly distributed and a given user may be consistently 
available," but has no standard way to make this information known to 
her peers.  This working group will design a system to address this 
need.

Goals:

The working group will develop an architecture for simple instant
messaging and presence awareness/notification. It will specify how
authentication, message integrity, encryption and access control are
integrated. It is desirable, but not required, for the working group
to develop a solution that works well for awareness of and
communication with entities other than human users.

Non-goals:

Providing a general notification mechanism for data other than user 
presence information and instant messages.

The following keywords describe the scope for the working group.
Details are to be developed in the architecture document which is the
output of this working group:

- PRESENCE

- INSTANT MESSAGING

- SHARED

- NAMING

- AUTHENTICATION

- ACCESS CONTROL

- SCALABILITY

Deliverables:

The working group plans to deliver the following document:

- Requirements for Instant Messaging and Presence
 
 Goals and Milestones: 
 
   May 99       Submit Internet-Draft of Design Goals for Instant Messaging and
                Presence Information                                           

   Jul 99       Submit design goals Internet-Draft to IESG for publication as 
                an RFC