Advanced service creation using distributed object technology

Rapid technological developments are taking place in computing and telecommunications that provide a wide range of opportunities for the delivery of new advanced multimedia services (telematic services). In this context information networking has a central role, and telecommunications service engineering emerges as an important new scientific discipline. This article examines important issues that underpin the creation of telematic services in a highly competitive environment of service provisioning. The starting point is the proposal of a telecommunications service engineering framework consisting of a service development methodology, a service creation environment, and a service support environment, that considers telematic services as distributed object-oriented applications operating on distributed object platforms. Then the article focuses on the presentation and examination of a complete methodology for the development of telematic services, that "covers" in a systematic and structured manner the entire service creation process. Finally, the proposed methodology is validated by applying it to the design and development of a complex representative telematic service.