cquire the software they are currently using in their operations and business, and why they think they should or should not be involved in the software development business. A further question was about how they see the future of software development in this industry domain. The market is occupied by different types of vendor companies. There are industry-specific vendors developing telecom specific software, and large vendors providing also hardware equipment, or large renowned software vendors. There are also smaller young companies providing solutions for a limited scope. The interviewees were asked how they see the role of the different providers, and their own role in the developing of the applications for their business operations and new software systems in general for the communica- tion services provisioning business. Questions about criteria used in the selection of Table 5 The CSP software development/procurement: European operators Software Software Current status of SW Issues and trend developed purchased: development in software in-house licences, development/ projects from acquisition vendors Regional 1 Some work on integration No development, no interest in maintenance Regional 2 No significant development No development Regional 3 No significant development No development National 1 Maintain legacy, mostly no Design development, an in- innovative sourced developing unit software, partnerships National 2 Has a spin-off, design software No own and architectures development, keep design and software International 1 No own development, design Evolve to a software important design-house International 2 50% Has outsourced development Not giving up all own development for (1) design and integration of own systems development, (2) cutting of costs (3) innovation innovation M. Pulkkinen and J. Veijalainen Table 6 The CSP software development/procurement: Asian operators Software Software Current status of Issues and trend in developed purchased: SW development software development / in-house Licences, acq