AN ATM-BASED PLATFORM FOR RAPID GENERATION OF MULTIMEDIA APPLICATIONS

The Software Assembly Workbench (SAW) approach is used to assemble sof tware by combining reusable building blocks, much in the way some comm odity hardware is being designed. SAW requires a network execution pla tform that performs network functions necessary to execute typical ser vices and provides access to telecommunications and computing function ality. SAW is based on two adjacent software layers, the upper service layer and the intermediate component layer. Both require the implemen tation of the lower capability layer, which resides on the network exe cution platform. This building block approach enables the rapid creati on and customization of software that can be dependably executed in a distributed telecommunications network to create both narrowband and m ultimedia broadband services.