Patent ID: 8306057

Claim:
A method for providing presence information related to a communications network, comprising the steps of: receiving a first presence information message from a first network element of a first the communications network at a presence aggregator of the first communications network, wherein the first network element utilizes a first communications protocol; receiving a second presence information message from a second network element of the first communications network at the presence aggregator, wherein the second network element utilizes a second communications protocol; determining at the presence aggregator first state information about the first network element from the first presence information and second state information about the second network element from the second presence information message, wherein the presence aggregator maintains the first and second state information for the first and second network elements, respectively; translating the first and second presence information messages into a standardized communications protocol by the presence aggregator; consolidating the first state information, the second state information, the translated first presence information message and the translated second presence information message into a consolidated message; and sending the consolidated message to a presence server external to the first communications network, to provide the translated first and second presence information messages, the first state information and the second state information to a third network element of a second communications network.