This thesis explores intelligent call management agents, distributed call processing, user interfaces, and internetworking in a heterogeneous computing and telecommunications environment. The call processing services are presented through a graphical user interface, allowing users to customize their communication services to an extent not possible in today's telecommunication systems. For example, users can specify statements such as "No calls between 12 noon to 1pm, except if it’s from Peter." The thesis first examines previous related research conducted at other laboratories in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Chapter 3 discusses the motivation for this work and how it differs from previous work. Chapter 4 discusses implementation issues, such as hardware and software requirements to reproduce this experiment at another lab. Chapter 5 describes the phoneserver in detail, its architecture, and the protocol of communications. The automatic call management entity (ACME) used by clients to manage their communications service is discussed in chapter 6. The rule-based scripting language used to instruct ACME is described in chapter 7, and the graphical interface used for generating these rules is discussed in chapter 8. The remaining chapters discuss and summarize the work as well as conjecture about how this architecture may be used in future telecommunication networks. The MICE project at Bellcore aimed to reduce the complexity of introducing new service specifications in a CO switch by developing a rapid prototyping system for network services. The authors emphasized three services within MICE – personalization, customization, and integration. The PX project explores architectures that will enable workstations to conveniently communicate, store, retrieve, and process voice as a data type. The IC-Card Telephone System developed at NTT is an attempt to provide personal telephone services. The thesis argues that integrating the workstation into the network allows for more efficient call management and better user interfaces. The phoneserver is an asynchronous process that provides telephony-based network services to clients. It receives input from new clients, existing clients, and signaling information from a BRI line. The phoneserver communicates with clients through socket-based interprocess communications. The ACME is a rule-based system that is configured using a graphical user interface called Phoneditor. The thesis discusses the challenges of defining a set of rules that could adequately specify the personalization needs of users and conjectures about the utility of a phoneserver and an ACME in advanced telecommunications networks of tomorrow.This thesis explores intelligent call management agents, distributed call processing, user interfaces, and internetworking in a heterogeneous computing and telecommunications environment. The call processing services are presented through a graphical user interface, allowing users to customize their communication services to an extent not possible in today's telecommunication systems. For example, users can specify statements such as "No calls between 12 noon to 1pm, except if it’s from Peter." The thesis first examines previous related research conducted at other laboratories in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Chapter 3 discusses the motivation for this work and how it differs from previous work. Chapter 4 discusses implementation issues, such as hardware and software requirements to reproduce this experiment at another lab. Chapter 5 describes the phoneserver in detail, its architecture, and the protocol of communications. The automatic call management entity (ACME) used by clients to manage their communications service is discussed in chapter 6. The rule-based scripting language used to instruct ACME is described in chapter 7, and the graphical interface used for generating these rules is discussed in chapter 8. The remaining chapters discuss and summarize the work as well as conjecture about how this architecture may be used in future telecommunication networks. The MICE project at Bellcore aimed to reduce the complexity of introducing new service specifications in a CO switch by developing a rapid prototyping system for network services. The authors emphasized three services within MICE – personalization, customization, and integration. The PX project explores architectures that will enable workstations to conveniently communicate, store, retrieve, and process voice as a data type. The IC-Card Telephone System developed at NTT is an attempt to provide personal telephone services. The thesis argues that integrating the workstation into the network allows for more efficient call management and better user interfaces. The phoneserver is an asynchronous process that provides telephony-based network services to clients. It receives input from new clients, existing clients, and signaling information from a BRI line. The phoneserver communicates with clients through socket-based interprocess communications. The ACME is a rule-based system that is configured using a graphical user interface called Phoneditor. The thesis discusses the challenges of defining a set of rules that could adequately specify the personalization needs of users and conjectures about the utility of a phoneserver and an ACME in advanced telecommunications networks of tomorrow.