A proof-of-concept (PoC) is a small-scale, limited implementation designed to verify the feasibility and practical potential of a proposed solution within the actual target environment. Its primary purpose is not to be a finished product but to demonstrate that the core concepts and functionalities can meet specific business or technical requirements in a real-world setting. This allows stakeholders to evaluate the technology and mitigate risks before committing significant resources to a full-scale pilot or deployment. The PoC focuses on proving viability, not on comprehensive bug testing or large-scale user adoption.

A. Testing for software bugs that might impact the end user describes a quality assurance (QA) or beta testing phase, not the primary goal of a PoC.

C. A full-scale test deployment in the target environment for users to work with describes a pilot program, which is a more mature and larger test that follows a successful PoC.

D. A demonstration provided by the manufacturer in their facility is a vendor demo or "bake-off," which showcases general capabilities in a controlled, non-customer environment.

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1. CWNP®, CWISA-102 Certified Wireless IoT Solutions Administrator Official Study Guide, 1st ed. (Indianapolis: Wiley, 2022), Chapter 1, "The IoT Solutions Architect," Section "The Solution Lifecycle," pp. 18-19. This section explicitly differentiates between a Proof of Concept (PoC) as a limited-scope test to prove functionality in the target environment and a Pilot as a larger-scale test with real users.

2. Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute, "A Decision-Making Process for Using Proofs of Concept in System Acquisitions," Technical Note CMU/SEI-2010-TN-023, pp. 4-5. This document defines a PoC as an experiment to test a hypothesis about a system's capability in a specific context, distinguishing it from a prototype (which explores user interface) and a pilot (which is a limited deployment for operational testing).

3. Purdue University, "IT Project Management Methodology," Section "Project Execution Phase." The methodology outlines the project lifecycle, where a Proof of Concept is used to validate the technical approach on a small scale before the main solution is built and deployed, confirming its use in the intended environment.