Presence—the ability to see where people are, as well as what they’re doing and how they want to be reached—is on track to revolutionize the way people work. Presence-based technologies include instant messaging, telephony applications, and location-based services such as GPS and smart-card readers. The real-time communications such technologies enable can serve as a foundation for the virtual workplace, by minimizing the latency of human interactions and driving productive communications.

The value of presence increases as presence information is extended outside an organization, and as presence sources are integrated to provide as clear a picture as possible of whether someone’s really available, and the best way to reach him or her. That presence extension, however, means enterprises will be left with a large, unmet need: Companies must aggregate presence information, a task they cannot do today—at least not easily, or in a streamlined way.

The current lack of automatic interoperability among presence vendors (be they from the IM, telephony or wireless world) means that companies need to install third-party management software (such as that from Akonix, FaceTime, and IM Logic) or buy into their vendors’ add-on capabilities, such as the integration available between Microsoft’s Live Communications Server 2005 and the public IM services.

But even if that changes, as we expect it will over the next 24 to 36 months, and all presence sources work together the way telephones and e-mail do today, to best leverage presence, companies will need to accept and manage a vast array of presence sources—including applications-based presence, telephony-based presence, and location-based presence. Doing so will require presence servers. Today some vendors play a limited role in that game, by managing one or two different types of presence information from multiple sources. Emerging technologies will make the process easier and more streamlined.

The complete issue paper is available to Nemertes clients. Please contact Chris Zimmerman, 815-464-8480, for more information