The enormous progress of telecommunication networks and services has b
een, and still is, based on core technologies such as microelectronics
, optoelectronics, fibre optics, transmission techniques (OTDM, WDM...
) and assembly technologies, which all need high quality materials and
process technologies. Signal processing (speech and video) are key te
chnologies for economical transmission and all telecom services are us
ing a huge amount of software in the networks, in the concerned databa
ses (e.g. in switching systems, cross connects, intelligent networks a
nd telecom management) and in end-user terminals (e.g. for multimedia
telecooperation). So software technology is becoming step by step the
most important technology for telecommunication.