Overview

A new industry has been created that uses computers in telephone networks. Users of private telephone systems have tried for many years to marry the computer with the telephone system. Until the last 5 years, the industry had been unable to meet the needs of the user in this area.

Several manufacturers of private branch exchange (PBX) and computer equipment finally got together and forged agreements to develop interfaces that would allow desktop computers to control applications in PBX equipment. Some of the first applications were things like voice mail systems and calling center applications. Today, one can even buy plug-in computer boards that allow your computer to act as a mini-telephone system.

The industry is now moving toward using TCP/IP data networks for the transmission of voice communications. These interfaces are now being adapted to work with TCP/IP and a plethora of new devices providing call control and transmission. This will further the use of desktop computers for applications such as video conferencing and voice transmission in enterprise networks.

Today, you can change the routing in your PBX, change voice mail configurations, and even receive sophisticated reports for your calling center, all through a desktop computer. Although there is now a standard, not everyone has endorsed this standard. In fact, the European vendors were the first to pursue and provide a standard interface to their PBX systems for computer applications.

3.1 Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI)

The European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) started developing the Telephony Application...