FUTURE OF TELEPHONY AND TAPI.

As the TAPI interface becomes more common, hardware prices will fall to levels that are affordable to almost anyone who purchases a PC. In the near future, the integration of e-mail, telephony, and speech services (such as Microsoft Phone) will become the norm instead of a unique occurrence.

As telephones become easier to program and operate from within PC workstations, it is quite possible that the telephone handset that adorns almost every desktop today will disappear. In its place will be a single workstation that can answer and place voice calls, transfer data between locations by way of e-mail and direct links, even read messages aloud to you both in the office and while you are away.

The next round of innovations will be the ability to switch between voice and data on the same line automatically. Some hardware is already available to handle such chores. In the not too distant future, users will be able to transfer voice and data at the same time over a single line-without switching modes at all.