Telecommunications voice server leveraging application web-server capabilities

A method for providing voice telephony services comprising the steps of:

• receiving a call via a telephone gateway;
• packetizing call information into a plurality of messages normalized for an application server environment;
• initializing at least one media socket within a media converter, wherein said media socket is allocated for approximately a duration of the call, said media converter serves as an intermediary between a speech engine and said telephone gateway, and said media converter establishes a connection with a calling port of the telephone gateway and at least one media port for receiving speech data;
• conveying said messages to a telephone application server that provides at least one speech service for said call;
• said telephony application server initiating at least one programmatic action of a communicatively linked speech engine;
• said speech engine establishing a communication link with said converter via said media socket;
• and
• conveying audio signals between said speech engine and said telephone gateway using said media converter as a communication intermediary, wherein once said speech engine has completed executing said at least one programmatic action, disconnecting said speech engine from said media socket so that said media socket is available for communications with other speech engines.