Companies to present first draft of PAM specification at Instant Messaging Conference
Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) and Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL) today announced that they have completed the first draft of the Presence and Availability Management (PAM) Application Programming Interface (API) specification, which could aid in tailoring communications services to users' preferences. A joint effort of Bell Labs, the R&D arm of Lucent Technologies, and Novell, the PAM specification describes a software platform designed to enable service providers to securely share certain data necessary to deliver advanced, customizable voice and data services that interact across both wired and wireless networks.
Lucent and Novell first proposed standardization of a PAM specification in March of this year. The two companies are making the draft specification available for industry comment and feedback at www.pamforum.org this week, to coincide with the Instant Messaging 2000 conference in Boston. The companies also announced their intent to form an industry forum to establish and promote the PAM specification.
The PAM API is designed to allow communications systems to securely share authorized information about subscribers' identity, presence and availability across a range of communications networks - Internet Protocol (IP) and telecom, wireless and wireline. Adoption of the proposed standard would benefit consumers by allowing them to define, under a single identity, personal preferences for all their communication systems - including e-mail, telephone, wireless, and instant messaging - and giving them greater control of how they are contacted.
Some of the services, systems, and devices that the proposed PAM standard can benefit include: electronic mail; fax; Web browsers and portals; mobile and hand-held devices; TV set-top boxes; wireless, paging, and unified messaging servers; enterprise communications systems and call centers; conferencing and gaming systems; and content distribution and caching engines.
"With the rapid growth in our industry and the number and variety of available communication devices, there is a tremendous advantage to giving end users more control over all of their services," said Guda Venkatesh, a research scientist at Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs. "We view this as a step toward enabling software developers and service providers to bring more customizable and interoperable communications services to market."
"We hope this specification will eventually achieve industry standardization and facilitate the creation of 'one Net' interoperable communication services," said John Gailey, vice president, In-the-net Services, Novell. "This will ultimately provide end users complete freedom and flexibility to control their communication capabilities."
About Lucent Technologies
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, designs and delivers the systems, software, silicon and services for next-generation communications networks for service providers and enterprises. Backed by the research and development of Bell Labs, Lucent focuses on high-growth areas such as optical and wireless networks; Internet infrastructure; communications software; communications semiconductors and optoelectronics; Web-based enterprise solutions that link private and public networks; and professional network design and consulting services. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit www.lucent.com and www.bell-labs.com.
About Novell
Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL), is a leading provider of Net services software that delivers services to secure and power all types of networks - the Internet, intranets, and extranets; wired to wireless; corporate and public - across leading operating systems. Novell's Net services software provides the foundation for one Net - a single global network that supports new applications and forms of business. Net services software gives IT organizations a way to adapt and accelerate their transformation to eBusiness, simplify the management and control of all networks, create a secure foundation for doing business on the Net, and help deliver a consistent and high-quality experience to end users in all locations. Worldwide channel, consulting, education and technical support programs, along with strategic alliances, combine Novell(r) Net services software with third-party products and services to form complete Net solutions.
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