Pharma Blitz develops and markets new technological products to be used in health care. The development of a new product operates as follows.

When a new technology meets the requisite market potential, a new patent is filed. Patents are granted for a period of 12 years starting from the date of filing and expire after that. Once the patent is filed, the new technology is developed at one of its 3 independent development centers, and is then launched to the market. Each product is developed at only one center, and each center can only develop a single patented technology at a time. Once a center becomes available, it immediately starts working on the next patented technology that is waiting to be developed, if there is any.

On average, Pharma Blitz files a new patent every 5 months (with standard deviation of 5 months). The average development process lasts 12 months (with standard deviation of 24 months).

1. On average, for a new technology, how long does it take from filling a patent to the beginning of the development process?

2. On average, for a new technology, how long does it take from filling a patent to the end of the development process?

3. Pharma Dev's competitor, Pills &Co, has almost identical operation: all the parameters of the process are the same, but the number of development centers equals 4. On average, how many years of patent life will be left on a technological product when it is launched by Pills & Co the market?