Driven by technological (fibre-optical networks, broadband-ISDN, industry platforms) and organisational forces (liberalisation of the telecommunications market, ISO/ITU standardisation), the telecommunication-oriented and the open distributed processing application areas will converge in the future. Applications will require the support of mobility, multimedia, personalisation, and customising. Network operators, service providers, and users will ask for platforms which are to support the development and the administration of networks, services, and applications. The paper describes an integrated approach to a platform which enhances network services and provides for the support of future distributed applications. The platform is embedded within an architecture which provides rules and guidelines for the construction, deployment, and administration of the platform and supported applications. Related conceptual and development work is described. An introduction to the strategies used for the evaluation of existing and emerging platform products with respect to `ideal' platforms is given as part of the description of a platform evaluation laboratory.