[Asterisk-Dev] 3rd party call control / CSTA , JTAPI or TAPI interfaces

[Shahed]

Hello all,

(Not sure if this is more appropriate for user or dev list)

Does asterisk have any sort of "standards based" api that can enable
an application to do call control on the switch ?

For example, if I am developing a call center application
using asterisk, I would like to be notified of inbound calls
and then be able to route them to extensions / agents based
on my application logic.

I know that I may be able to do this using AGI (have not yet
  looked at  it in any depth), but was wondering if
there is or are there any plans to develop - a standard
interface like JTAPI, TAPI , CSTA etc that an external application
can interface with ?

If AGI is the only way, can anyone comment on how it compares with
API's like JTAPI or propiatary API's like ASAI for Avaya Definity
switches, with regard to call contol and event notification ??

Thanks
Shahed