Apparatus and methods in routing internet protocol network telephony calls in a centrally-managed call center system

The present invention in its several aspects presented herein is in the area of telephone communication in the broadest sense; that is, including all multimedia communication aspects of intelligent networks, call-center technology including computer-telephony integration (CTI), and Internet protocol telephony networks and related technology. An Internet Protocol Network Telephony call center system has a plurality of call centers managed by a central controller. The central controller accepts IPNT calls and routes the calls to the plurality of call centers to be distributed to agents based on status of the call centers maintained in a stat-server coupled to the central controller. The call centers periodically report call center status to the stat-server at the central controller via dedicated data links. In the event of failure of a data link between a call center and the central controller, the central controller continues to route calls by retrieving historical data previously reported for the disconnected call center, estimating the current status of the call center based on the historical data, and using the estimates with current status of other call centers in making routing decisions.