Software maintenance in the telecommunication area-status and perspectives

The standard classification of software maintenance into the corrective, adaptive, and perfective categories is reviewed and extended for telecommunications applications. General issues that confront telecommunication software maintenance are explored, and implications for the basic functions of the operating systems, the support tools, and the operating companies´ needs are considered. Considerations on in-house maintenance are given, and software requirements from the maintenance viewpoint are analyzed. As a practical example, the Italian situation is illustrated and discussed