As computers work their way in to more and more everyday applications, affordability is increasingly becoming an issue (there's only so much profit margin in a toaster oven; but more importantly items such as automobiles are really every bit as tight with respect to cost constraints).

Recently there has been growing interest on off-the-shelf technology as a way to address the cost issue. There are four compelling reasons to want to use off-the-shelf hardware and software components:

• Reduced time to market (using pre-made components to shorten design time).
• An expectation of lower price when using a high-volume standard component.
• The hope that the component vendor will improve the part's performance and cost as technology improves.
• The possibility of using multi-sourced components to create a competitive supplier environment.

Both military and commercial users are interested in off-the-shelf components, although for somewhat different reasons. The military makes a purely cost-based argument (and calls it "COTS"). Commercial users care about opportunity cost as well as simple component cost.

koopman@cmu.edu