Leading Industry Vendors Join Microsoft In Announcing Support For Creation
of Open "Buddy List" Protocol Standard
Interoperable Protocol Will Make It Easier to Identify Online Presence of
Friends, Colleagues On the Internet
REDMOND, Wash. - Nov. 24, 1997 - Microsoft Corp. today announced that more
than 40 leading industry vendors have announced support to create the
first open protocol to standardize how applications such as "buddy lists"
identify the presence of friends and business associates online. This
protocol is intended to make it easier for users to locate, connect to and
communicate with each other anywhere on the Internet.
To initiate this process, Microsoft has submitted a proposed specification
called the "rendezvous protocol" (RVP) to the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF). The RVP specification uses an open, distributed model that
enables the creation of interoperable client and server solutions,
allowing for compatibility across products, platforms and vendors.
Microsoft has submitted the specification to the IETF, which is the
principal body engaged in the development of new Internet standard
specifications, with the goal of creating an open Internet standard for
identifying online presence.
"International and industry standards organizations have established
interoperable protocols for mail, chat and many other forms of
conferencing on the Internet," said John Ludwig, vice president of the
Internet client and collaboration division at Microsoft. "However, ways of
finding friends, family and colleagues to communicate with online are
still in the dark ages of proprietary networks. It's our goal to evolve
the Internet into a real-time multimedia communications network, and this
requires unrelenting industry commitment to interoperability standards.
The RVP submission, along with broad industry involvement, is a key step
toward achieving that goal."
More Than 40 Vendors Rally Behind Goal of Creating Standards-Based
Protocol
More than 40 leading industry vendors representing Internet telephony,
videoconferencing, networking hardware, Internet service, community
service, and content providers have announced their support for the
creation of a standards-based distributed "buddy list" or "presence"
protocol. These proponents include 3Com Corp., 8x8 Inc., Activerse Inc.,
Bandai Digital Entertainment Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Concentric Network
Corp., Connectix Corp., DataBeam Corp., Data Connection Ltd., Dialogic
Corp., DSP Group Inc., eFusion Inc., elemedia of Lucent Technologies Inc.,
eShare Technologies Inc., Extranet Solutions, LLC, Flash Communications,
GeoCities, GTE Internetworking, Guthy-Renker Internet, Ibis Research
Corp., ichat Inc., Infoseek Corp., InfoSpace Inc., ITXC, Juno Online
Services LP, Liveworld Productions, Netopia Inc., OnLive! Technologies
Inc., OutReach Technologies, The Palace Inc., PeopleLink Inc., PictureTel
Corp., PlanetAll, Polycom, Prodigy Internet, RADVision Inc., Ring Zero
Systems, Sony Pictures Entertainment, VDOnet Inc., VideoServer Inc.,
Vocaltec Communications Ltd., Voxware Inc., VTEL Corp., White Pine
Software, Winnov Inc., Xirlink Inc. and Zydacron Inc.
Through the open-standards process, these vendors and others will have an
opportunity to work together to review, discuss and provide feedback and
to drive consensus on the formation of the standard.
"Knowing who is present online provides users with even more information
than standard communication tools such as the telephone," said Steve
Glenn, president and CEO of
PeopleLink. "Imagine how powerful it would be if you could find out if
someone was there before trying to call them, or learn that a family
member across the country just logged on and be able to immediately say
'hi' and strike up a conversation. A standard presence protocol will bring
these rich, real-time, people-focused communication capabilities to every
user on the Internet."
"We've established Prodigy Internet with the philosophy of offering the
latest and greatest Internet technology to our subscribers and bringing it
together as an easy-to-use solution to fit into their everyday lives,"
said Russ Pillar, CEO, Prodigy Internet. "A standards-based solution for
helping friends and family to find each other on the Internet will greatly
enhance the ability for our customers to communicate in real time."
RVP Solves Problems Posed by Proprietary Buddy List Solutions
Applications, such as buddy lists, that identify online presence are an
increasingly important tool for real-time Internet communications. These
applications are used for initiating a variety of online communications,
including sending instant text messages, files and pictures; conducting
audio and video conferences; and issuing invitations to chat rooms and
game-playing sessions.
Currently, the demand for solutions that identify online presence is
fractured because existing solutions are proprietary. Interoperability
across products, platforms and vendors is not possible, preventing users
of different buddy list services from easily finding, connecting to and
communicating with each other. This limitation creates walled-off,
isolated communities that require customers to use the same client
software and service provider. The situation is like having a telephone
that only makes calls to customers of your local phone company.
Microsoft's RVP specification addresses this issue by introducing an open
model that enables servers operated by different corporations and Internet
service providers to exchange information, in much the same way that
different e-mail systems exchange messages today. Using this model, for
example, a computer user in France could see when a business associate or
friend in Japan logs on to the Internet and becomes available for instant
communication, regardless of whether they both are using the same Internet
service provider.
Microsoft proposed the RVP specification to the IETF on Friday, Nov. 21.
In proposing the protocol, Microsoft is encouraging the industry to
converge around a single presence standard that will ultimately result
from the feedback and experience of industry leaders. The open standards
process in the IETF and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
has led to the development of other Internet and telecommunication
protocols and standards such as POP3 and SMTP for electronic mail, HTTP
for text linking, IRC for chat and H.323 for audio and video conferencing.
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