Abstract: Presented is a telephony system capable of supporting and properly interfacing with a wide variety of telephones or station sets produced by various manufacturers, including analog, ISDN, proprietary digital, etc. This support is enabled through the inclusion of a telephone abstraction layer in the core telephony software that removes the detailed interface to a particular phone common in modern telephony systems. Telephone abstraction drivers for each type of phone receive the abstraction commands and information and translate them into commands and information for proper interfacing, display, signaling, functional assignment, etc. for that type of phone. The information provided from the abstraction layer may be more than the particular phone may be able to display, in which case the telephone abstraction drivers prioritize the information and send only what it deems appropriate to the station set.