COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf solutions)

“Custom” means many things in the business world. To engineers and project managers it means no compromise; for purchasing and accountants it means a blown budget. For us, it is the root word for customers. And in our definition, it does not mean expensive.

Custom Solutions

Vehicle Mounts

Mil Spec Connectors

This commitment to our customers is the perfect blend of COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) and flexibility. All of our notebook and tablet computers are designed with expansion ports for extra cards, modules, drives, and batteries.

WHAT IS COTS?

(via www.army-technology.com)
As one of the buzzwords in military procurement of the past decade COTS is a commonly used but often misunderstood term. COTS is the application commercial off-the-shelf products as the whole or part solution to military product requirements.

The original aim behind COTS was that by moving away from military specifications towards commercial technologies, a commensurate reduction in development costs, equipment costs and obsolescence would occur. COTS systems would be cheaper, more regularly updated and the development costs of the technologies wouldn’t have to come primarily out of defence force budgets.

Arguably the most successful application of COTS has been the integration of commercial integrated circuits, I/O interfaces and single-board computers. With an increasing commonality between the IT hardware and software infrastructure of military applications, the adaptation of existing systems to meet new requirements has become a more attractive proposition.