Communication Industry Coalition Releases Specification on Use and Protection of Presence and Availability Information.

Business Editors & Technology Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 29, 2001

PAM Forum Creates First Open Standard for Common Interface Among

Communication Technologies

The Presence and Availability Management (PAM) Forum, an independent coalition of communication infrastructure and service companies, today released its specification for the use and protection of presence and availability information.

Presence and availability information is used most frequently to facilitate Instant Messaging on the Internet and, with the introduction of this specification, will be used to facilitate a variety of interoperable voice and text communication services across heterogeneous networks and devices.

The PAM specification provides a mechanism for developers of communication services to give users better control over where, when, how, and by whom they are contacted. The specification allows for users' availability information to be stored and disseminated in advance or computed on demand based on user preferences or enterprise policies.

"The PAM specification provides the first common interface for the management and privacy protection of presence and availability information," said George Hallenbeck, CEO of Evolving Systems and chairman of the PAM Forum. "Services such as universal Instant Messaging, unified messaging, and buddy locating can now become a reality because this specification addresses the sharing and protection of both presence and availability information across networks."

The PAM specification provides a mechanism for privacy management that enables service providers to allow users to dynamically control their private information across disparate networks. It also enables users to specify the degree of privacy under which information is provided, whether that be "for one time use only" or "not for further distribution."

"The specification embodies contributions from member companies that range from wired and wireless network infrastructure providers to application developers," said Guda Venkatesh, CTO of Teltier Technologies and chairman of the PAM Forum Technical Committee. "The fact that the specifications were developed and agreed upon in a relatively short time is a testament to the importance of this emerging area and the common goals shared by the member companies."

By facilitating the accessibility of presence data and by providing a common Application Programming Interface (API), the PAM specification will accelerate the development of enhanced messaging and communication applications and reduce development cost for application providers. The use of presence information resident in their networks presents operators with new revenue opportunities. For example, using the PAM API, an application provider can leverage subscriber presence data to send time-sensitive information to subscribers who have designated themselves as "available" on whatever device they are currently using.

The specification was developed as an API so it would work with any communication technology. The PAM API complements the various application-specific protocols that exist in the industry today by providing a common basis for storing and disseminating presence information.

Organizations interested in downloading the PAM specification can visit www.pamforum.org.

About The PAM Forum

The PAM Forum is an independent nonprofit consortium dedicated to establishing and promoting presence and availability management as an ad hoc industry standard. The focus of the PAM Forum is to develop and promote a presence and availability interface specification that enables software vendors and service providers to bring personalized, interoperable communications services to market. PAM-based services enable subscriber control of communications choices and privacy options across multiple devices and networks.

The PAM Forum has more than 30 member companies worldwide including sponsor members: Ericsson, Evolving Systems, Lucent, OZ, Teltier Technologies, TCS, and ZION. For a complete member list, visit www.pamforum.org.