REAL-TIME PRESENCE OF ONLINE CONTACTS

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, a method for dynamically generating online contacts for an instant messaging (IM) environment in response to receiving login information from a user is provided. The method includes receiving at least one predetermined core IM contact associated with the user at a core IM server, and receiving a query for a presence status of at least one predetermined e-mail contact associated with the user from an e-mail application. A presence status is determined for the at least one predetermined core IM contact and the at least one predetermined e-mail contact. After returning the determined presence status of the at least one predetermined core IM contact for consolidating with the determined presence status of the at least one e-mail contact. An online presence contact list is generated using the determined presence status of the at least one IM contact and the at least one e-mail contact.