night) will improve accordingly. It is likely that tools that
manage and aggregate presence will emerge in the coming
years to manage and aggregate presence from multiple
sources.
As presence management tools evolve, they may take on
“learning” characteristics (that is, catching on to user habits
from heuristics or patterns of usage). Instead of relying upon
a static set of business rules, they will adapt to changing con-
ditions (such as volume and source of messages) and make
changes to user preferences automatically.
Location-Based Services
Presence will enable new location-aware services for con-
sumers and enterprises. Devices and SIP presence servers
can interface with cellular carriers’ location-based services
(which are used for E911 among other things) to obtain and act
on a user’s approximate geographic location. Also, presence-
enabled wireless access points and micro-cellsites can sense
that a user is “roaming” within his service area and inform
SIP presence servers of a user’s approximate location.
For example, when a mobile user enters a conference room
with a presence-enabled Wireless Access Point or micro-
cellsite, his presence can be sent to a SIP-enabled room-
scheduling system. The system can check to see whether the
meeting room is reserved — if it’s not, the system can IM the
user asking how long he would like to reserve it. If the room
was already booked, an IM can be sent to the user’s PDA
informing him that the room is booked and by whom, and
offering alternate locations that are close by.
Ensuring Privacy
Privacy becomes a major concern as presence is enabled
on multiple user devices. Users need ways to control their
environments so as not to be buried by spam, spyware, or
interruptions. With a personal profile manager, users will be
able to control presence settings for all their devices from a
secured personal portal. They can set preferences to allow
or deny others to see their presence based on time of day,
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