What does COTS mean?
Commercial Off The Shelf
or COTS, is frequently quoted but often a misunderstood term. Many people have mistakenly
interpreted the “Off the Shelf” portion of the term to believe
that those items are literally on a shelf waiting for a prospective
customer – like boxes of cornflakes at a supermarket. However, the industry accepted definition of the term are products that use existing
technologies, methods, processes to aid their design. The advantage of using a COTS
approach is that it reduces R&D costs and technological risks.
COTS
is an approach to design rather than a declaration of product
availability. COTS viewed
another way is the designer’s desire not to “reinvent the
wheel”. We at TPS
Associates, Inc. have used this approach in our products and are confident
that we can share all the benefits of using this approach with you.
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