Together at Last In the near future, phones and computers may be inseparable. What will it mean for your business?

Maybe you've heard: computers will be making more phone calls in the future, and phones will be doing a lot more computer stuff. For a glimpse of what that can mean, check out the new SIP-compatible phone systems from companies like Alcatel, Avaya, Interactive Intelligence, Nortel Networks and Pingtel.

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a developing standard for how computers make phone calls over the Internet and how phones can use computer applications. It's the glue that binds these independent technologies, facilitating new kinds of interactions.

For example, suppose you get a phone call from an important customer with a question you can't answer, and you want a little help. If you had the SIP upgrade to Avaya PBX, your telephone desk set would display who in your company is on the phone or available for phone calls and at what phone numbers. Your phone would also show who is logged on to Avaya's secure, intramural IM service, so you could IM co-workers while your customer is still on the line. Alternatively, you could forward the call or conference in one or more co-workers using mouse clicks in a computer-based phone book like Microsoft Outlook.