And in a visionary stroke, CelsiusTech knew that their future lay in exploiting these assets for not only the first two systems but also for a whole family of products they hoped and expected would follow. In short, CelsiusTech launched a software product line . A product line is a set of products that together address a particular market segment or fulfill a particular mission. Product lines promise to become the dominating production software paradigm of the new century. Product flexibility is the new anthem of the marketplace, and product lines fulfill the promise of tailor-made systems built specifically for the needs of particular customers or customer groups.
Product lines are nothing new in manufacturing.
Boeing builds one, so does Ford, IBM, and even McDonald's. Each of these exploits commonality in different ways. Boeing, for example, developed the 757 and 767 transports in tandem, and the parts lists of these two decidedly different aircraft overlap by about 60 percent. But software product lines based on interproduct commonality are a relatively new concept, and the community is discovering that this path to success contains more than its share of pitfalls. Domain Engineering - Reveals the commonalities and variations among a set of products.