The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has published The Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol Core (RFC 3080) and Mapping the BEEP Core onto TCP (RFC 3081), two specifications which describe an XML-based protocol layered directly on TCP/IP.

The RFCs describe and specify:

"a generic application protocol kernel for connection-oriented, asynchronous interactions called the BEEP (Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol) core. BEEP permits simultaneous and independent exchanges within the context of a single application user-identity, supporting both textual and binary messages."

BEEP uses XML to transfer information, but also supports the use of other MIME types for messages. Information "exchanges occur in the context of a channel -- a binding to a well-defined aspect of the application, such as transport security, user authentication, or data exchange."

Both documents are on the IETF standards track, currently proposed standards.

Related stories:

• Blocks approved for publication as Proposed Standard
• Blocks considered for IETF Proposed Standard
• XML MIME Types, Blocks, and more
• Blocks work moves forward