The present invention discloses a method, program product and system for facilitating efficient development and deployment of features in a voice over internet protocol telephony system comprising protocol specific equipment. The method and program product comprise: developing a feature for deployment in the telephony system using a developer protocol, the developer protocol being independent of any specific VoIP protocol, and performing communication protocol conversion between the developer protocol and a specific VoIP protocol used by the telephony system on feature-related messages in order to communicate with the protocol specific equipment. The system comprises: a feature performance layer for performing telephony features, the feature performance layer being independent of any specific VoIP protocol used by the protocol specific equipment, and a communication interface layer interfacing with the feature performance layer to provide communication protocol conversion between the feature performance layer and the protocol specific telephony equipment.