Traditional instant messaging applications rely on central server infrastructure to broker user information. The cost and complexity of this infrastructure makes it difficult for developers to build and deploy lightweight presence and instant messaging systems within their own applications.

In this paper, we describe P2P-IM, a peer-to-peer instant messaging client that does not rely on any hosted server infrastructure. The system provides the rich facilities available from traditional client-server systems but enables easy deployment and integration with existing applications. The solution provides simplified identity generation, connectivity, and rich per-application data publication.