Interesting application, thanks for the background it helps put your original comment in a bit more perspective. As for it not being 'sexy SV stuff' -> most important automation projects aren't and they tend to be far more interesting than the stuff that is supposedly sexy. I've helped build a system that routes a sizeable fraction of all container and bulk freight around the world and when looked at from the outside it is probably pretty boring but the guts of it were fascinating. Not to mention mission critical to a degree that very few other things (healthcare, avionics) are. Telco has a ton of interesting challenges like that.