The APEX working group shall specify protocols and data formats that define a relaying mesh service for loosely-coupled Internet applications, along with specifying services to provide access control and rendezvous-by-subscription. In addition, the working group shall specify CPIM-compliant application services for text-based instant messaging and for online presence, based on the APEX service. Instant messaging differs from email primarily by requiring relatively short delivery latency guarantees and, typically, less robust transport service. Presence information was readily accessible on Internet-connected systems years ago; when a user had an open session to a well-known multi-user system, friends and colleagues could easily tell who was online. However there is no standard way to make this information known to peers. Similarly a number of messaging systems have operated over the Internet and continue to do so, although none has focused on assuring very low latency between posting and delivery. The working group will use APEX (as described in draft-mrose-apex-*) as the basis of the relay mesh, access control and rendezvous specifications. The working group will use draft-klyne-imxp-message-service and draft-klyne-message-rfc822-xml as its starting points for defining the instant messaging and presence conforming to RFC2779 and the interoperability details in the final version of the CPIM specification (draft-ietf-impp-cpim). BCP 41 will be the basis for working group consideration of the transport implications of the APEX designs with respect to network congestion, and the working group will coordinate on this with the BEEP WG. Although not encouraged, non-backwards-compatible changes to the basis specifications will be acceptable if the working group determines that the changes are required to meet the group's technical objectives and the group clearly documents the reasons for making them.