Abstraction

Related to my earlier post on how selling software to very large entities (e.g. selling software to telecom carriers) introduces unusual business challenges, I thought I’d post some key characteristics of software made for such carriers.

• It works, and continues to work — with five-9 availability — at the enormous scale required by carriers
• It solves a real world problem
• It contains sustainable differentiation
• It has no “single point of failure” (i.e. single external dependency) on which is relies to deliver value
• Avoids “specials” — one off development for a single customer
• Reflects input from customers and customer advisory boards
• (If a platform) provides robust, comprehensive SDKs
• Easy to install, particularly for PoCs
• Easy to configure, customize, and integrate
• Easy to update