A apparatus for the integration of phone communications and IT data
transmissions through a LAN provides central equipment and peripheral
devices of said local area network comprising means, hardware and
software, for the analogue/digital and digital/analogue conversion of
phone signals into data packets and vice-versa, for the detection of data
packets referring to phone communications, for the priority transmission
of said data packets to the addressed phone sets, for the automatic
transfer of phone communications from public phone network to LAN phone
users and vice-versa, for the integrated management of messages having a
multimedia content, for the performance of typical functions of an
exchange and further, for the automatic selection of the most inexpensive
telecommunication carrier and telephone connection mode as a function of
phone service cost parameters and statistic parameters referring to the
use of telephone services by each LAN phone user.