GUEST EDITORIAL further formulate the domain of NG Telco IT as well as to highlight recent progress in research and applications in this area. Although there are some viable solutions, there are many open technical and economical challenges to be solved. With this in mind, the articles in this feature topic focus on different aspects of NG Telco IT. The first article, by Takaaki Moriya and Junichi Akahani, summarizes the results of research to investigate the productivity of web-telecom

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... ion programming with Parlay X and a software development kit (SDK). The goal was to get a better understanding of the capabilities and usability of the event-driven and script-oriented paradigms. As a conclusion, a conversion from event-driven programming to scripting is recommended to increase the productivity of application programming. The second article, from J. Gobernado, C. Baladrón, J. M. Aguiar, A. Cadenas, B. Carro, and A. Sánchez, presents a distributed orchestration service execution enviroment for converged service platforms running over all-IP NGN platforms. The proposed concept promises significant benefits for CSPs entering the value-added services market allowing easy service execution management. The approach is based on the extensive use of the event-driven approach. The next three articles deal with different aspects of inter-CSP cooperation. The article by Rsets the stage for the other two articles, defining a new model for inter-CSP cooperation. The proposed solution extends earlier results with dynamical interdomain relationship management. Life cycle management issues are also considered. The selected approach addresses a key element in deploying IT infrastructure supporting NGNs. The next article, by M. Eliav and R. Giladi, presents a solution on how to provision inter-CSP transport services. The suggested methodology is based on standard Ethernet technology and enables automatic provisioning, reducing significantly the complexity (and costs) of inter-CSP provisioning. CSPs using various technologies could also be supported. ecent years have witnessed the convergence of the traditional telco world to the IT and media worlds. With the migration to all-IP NGN networks to deliver next-generation telecommunication services, the service production infrastructure will undergo fundamental changes. Today's communication service provider (CSP) architectures are based on separate stovepipes for fixed, mobile, and data services. In the pre-NGN era the business logic was mainly integrated in the software controlled digital switches. All-IP NGN architectures with a service factory such as a service delivery platform, IP multimedia system (IMS), and network factory providing connectivity services can support all kind of communication services. The business logic should be separated from the network infrastructure (network factory) and should be integrated into the service factory. The service factory will be based mainly on IT technologies adapted to the special needs of CSPs. In the network factory Ethernet technology and edge routers will be introduced on a large scale to serve subscribers, and so forth. In order to survive in the highly competitive telecommunication markets, CSPs need to automate their service production and operation using advanced IT technologies enabling new revenue streams through the fast introduction of new services, and reducing the production and operation costs. With the transformation to all-IP, IT technologies will play a key role, and strongly influence the service production and operation at next-generation (NG) CSPs. For example, service factories could be implemented as large server farms, large IT networks should be managed, the IT assets of NG CSPs should be administered, end-to-end (E2E) quality of service (QoS) should be monitored in all-IP networks, and so forth. In general, NG CSPs will transform themselves to IT practices in the forthcoming years. IT will become a key enabler for the telecommunications industry. However, the adaptation to the special requirements of CSPs needs major technical innovations. With the growing interest from research, telecommunication and IT industrial communities, there is a strong need to IEEE Communications Magazine •