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Software engineering for telecommunications : bringing research results into industrial practice

Génie logiciel pour les TéLécommunications : mettre en pratique industrielle les Résultats de la recherche

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Abstract

As networks and services are becoming more and more sophisticated, telecommunications software is growing in complexity. But, despite growing industrial needs, progress towards more software productivity has been extremely slow. This paper considers the software engineering problems from an industrial point of view. The industrial environment is therefore presented in some detail, stressing the influence of major events (e.g. company mergers) on fundamental software development issues (e.g. configuration management). The evolution of this environment, caused by recent trends such as deregulation, is then described, forecasting the consequences for software development. Then some emerging software techniques are presented as applied (or applicable) to telecommunications software. The paper concludes with a discussion of several research issues that could be of interest for industry within a reasonable time-frame.

Résumé

Avec le développement rapide des réseaux et des services, le logiciel de télécommunication devient de plus en plus complexe. Mais, en dépit de besoins industriels croissants, la productivité du logiciel n’ a progressé que lentement jusqu’à présent. Cet article considère la problématique du génie logiciel d’un point de vue industriel. La réalité industrielle est présentée en mettant en lumière l’influence d’événements importants (par exemple la fusion d’entreprises) sur certains aspects fondamentaux du développement de logiciel (par exemple la gestion de configuration). L’évolution de cette réalité, causée par des tendances récentes telles que la déréglementation, est ensuite décrite, en détaillant les conséquences prévisibles sur le développement de logiciel. L’article se termine par une discussion de plusieurs axes de recherche susceptibles d’intéresser l’industrie dans un avenir proche.

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Hubaux, JP. Software engineering for telecommunications : bringing research results into industrial practice. Ann. Télécommun. 47, 25–37 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02998724

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