The material covered here is just the tip of the iceberg for Windows telephony services. As the TAPI interface becomes more common, hardware prices will fall to levels that are affordable to almost anyone who purchases a pc. 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. In order to achieve the next level of telephony services, local loop service will need to improve to allow reliable data transfers at rates above 28.8Kbps. New data compression and correction technologies can help, but only to a point. The promised installation of high-speed ISDN lines that stretch from the local switch stations all the way to the home will do the most for improving the quality and capabilities of computerized telephony services in the future.