Microelectronics has dramatically changed the architecture and design
concepts of telecommunications products. Its strength is based on the
successful combination of three different disciplines: technology, des
ign automation and device architecture. The evolution in these areas w
ill be described and illustrated with several examples of telecommunic
ations applications in the three main business segments of the telecom
munications market: snitching, transmission and end-user systems. Tele
communications reliability requirements and their impact on the requir
ements for the technologies are discussed. Finally, the evolution of t
elecommunications products is described, followed by a brief discussio
n of future technology trends.