An inter-working network includes a plurality of interfaces for facilitating communications with a plurality of dispatch networks, a proxy, a signaling bridge, a signaling controller and a signaling gateway. The interfaces include a border gateway that manages communications between the inter-working architecture and each dispatch network. The proxy analyzes incoming session requests to determine whether translation is required between originating and terminating dispatch networks. The signaling bridge is adapted to translate session and signaling messages between dispatch networks having incompatible technologies. The signaling controller is interfaced with the signaling bridge and is adapted to manage dispatch sessions between an originating dispatch network and at least one target dispatch network. The signaling gateway is interfaced with the signaling controller and allocates media resources, such as transcoders, to dispatch sessions in order to convert real-time media between dispatch networks. The inter-working architecture may also include a location entity, an address translation entity and/or a billing clearinghouse.