Telephony Application Programming Interface

The Telephony Application Programming Interface ( TAPI) is a programming interface for telephony applications. It was introduced by Microsoft and Intel in 1993. Example, contains the operating system Microsoft Windows ( NT 5.0, corresponds to Windows 2000) Version 3.0 of this interface. Starting with Microsoft Windows 95 TAPI was firmly anchored in the operating system.

TAPI applications are, for example, software telephony, video conferencing programs, or call center systems. TAPI driver are used in conjunction with ISDN telephone systems for configuration and call handling by CTI. In 1999, TAPI 3.0 was released to allow Windows 2000 IP telephony.

Applications that are written for TAPI, can be used only with an appropriate device driver.