At one end of the continuum are bre

At one end of the continuum are breakthrough proejcts, charactrized by discrete and often disruptive changes in a product technology and the processes sued to make it. A successful breakthrough project can become the basis for a seminal product line at a startup or a whole new line of products for a more mature company. For example, advances in flat panel displays and the miniaturization of computer peripheral devides in the mid 1980's enabled a manufacturer of desktop computers like Compaq, or later Dell, to bring a breakthrough prouct to market; the protable laptop computer. The product had significantly different technologies and manufacturing requiremnets from their desktop models and had to be effectively designed from scratch. The ultimate success of a breakthrough project, like the laptop, depends on a company's ability to apply new technologies and concepts and to embed them in products that customers often don't yet know they need. As a result of a breakthrough project's complexity, the duration of development activities typically extends over several years.