The VW Golf and Audi TT share a common platform, as do Chevy
and GMC SUVs. The foundations for these automotive platforms are, firstly,
critical shared dimensions (e.g., between front axle centerline and driver’s
hip point) and, secondly, the placement of hardware (e.g., chassis, floor pan,
powertrain) within those dimensions. Sharing an automotive platform maximizes
the return on engineering investment by keeping a check on the development
costs for unseen structural elements and by reusing the platform
across several (market segment) vehicle types to generate multiple
lines of sales and economies of scale.
Automotive and telecommunications industries exhibit platform
commonalities. Communications service providers (CSP) serve several consumer
and enterprise segments with service offerings that operate over a common
network infrastructure. Standardization applies to unseen structural and
operational elements such as network elements, chip sets, roaming. Is this as
far as the platform model goes? Might there be other platform models for the
communications industry to pursue?