Abstract: The system and method of the present invention provides an improved service node containing at least one service application, a conversion process and a TCP/IP service circuit handler for communicating with a TCP/IP-driven external peripheral device over a communications link. According to a preferred embodiment, by selecting a switch as the TCP/IP-driven external peripheral device, the call capacity of the improved service node can also be increased. This is preferably accomplished by receiving an incoming call into the external switch, notifying the improved service node of the incoming call, and creating an instance of the service application on the service node, which service application is associated with the incoming call. The service application requests the switch place a corresponding outgoing call--which it does. The switch then hairpins the incoming and outgoing calls together and notifies the service application of their connection.