A system for network management incorporates Presence and Instant messaging (PIM) techniques. A presence service is used to support the presence discovery of network elements as well as the resources, and services provided by the network elements. An instant messaging service is used for communication between the Element Management System (EMS) and the network elements to support FACPS functionalities. XML is employed as the instant messaging format for the communication between EMS and network elements and adaptors to SNMP, CMIP, and other existing network management protocols are provided. The presence service also allows the presence of NMS, EMS, and SMS to be transparent. Use of buddy group PIM techniques to implement the management relationship between EMS and network elements, and relationship between EMS and NMS is employed. The PIM provides monitoring of servers, network elements, and resources.