A network architecture (10) provides Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service as well as multimedia and Internet web-based applications while implementing features common in a traditional telecommunications network. In response to an incoming call dialed to an IP endpoint (32,34), the network will process the call, and in particular, convert the call, if in not already in a VoIP format, to such a format, while mapping signaling associated with the call into a compatible format. The VoIP call is then routed to the IP endpoint. In the event that the call requires an associated multimedia or Internet-web-based application, the network will initiate the application. Processing of the incoming call may require accessing of a common database to acquire a location routing number for the call destination. To afford dynamic addressing of the IP endpoints, each may be referenced by a corresponding Universal Resource Locator (URL) (or other indirect mapping) associated with the IP address of the endpoint.