A method and apparatus for handling a call transfer from a circuit switched access network to a packet switched access network. The device provides a virtual port; that is an instrument that can be non-invasively, or minimally invasively and removably attached to the undersurface of a patient’s cavity, or to various tissues within a cavity, and to which various retracting means are attached. In one embodiment, the heuristics manager object is provided as a web-accessible service, which may be registered in a network-accessible registry such as a UDDI registry.