In 1990, I attended a telecommunications trade show and one of the discussions revolved around how traditional phone switches lacked important functionality that would make it a more useful business tool. Traditionally, phone switch developers only concern was providing dial tone and did not worry about user requirements or value-added features. Users were left with an antiquated voice system with little ability to evolve and expand as user requirements grew and the functionality of computers and data networks increased. This specifically affected corporate users who tend to have more advanced requirements. Because of this limited functionality, phone systems could not evolve like other forms of technology nor integrate with data systems to share information across platforms.
