COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) Products meet the "faster-better-cheaper" goals of the Federal Acquisition and Streamlining Act (FASA) of 1994 initiated by the Department of Defense (DoD). It was the intent of this legislation to encourage the utilization of the best available dual-use non-development COTS products from commercial/industrial suppliers in lieu of conventional Mil-Spec components to the maximum extent practicable. The success of this legislation has contributed to the growing popularity of COTS products as the usage trend expands to include both component-level and subsystem-level COTS. To date, the utilization of COTS technology has produced major benefits to the Department of Defense including: lower costs, reduced development time, enhancement of the available DoD supplier base, and the early adaptation of state-of-the-art commercial products to maintain technological superiority.

CyberResearch's scientific and industrial customers have long benefitted from COTS products from the rapidly advancing commercial/industrial technology market to economically and reliably meet their most demanding application requirements. CyberResearch has engaged in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of industrial duty PC based hardware and software solutions suitable for COTS/MOTS/ROTS applications since 1984. Now you can take advantage of our 20+ years of experience on your next project. CyberResearch.com is the one-stop shopping source for over 4,000 hard-to-find off-the-shelf industrial computers, ruggedized LCD monitors and PC-based data acquisition systems. Commercial "off-the-shelf technology" (COTS) products enable our aerospace, military, scientific, and industrial customers to achieve a tremendous increase in price performance with reduced development costs and improved time-to-market.

CyberResearch is committed to the goals of continuous improvement of product quality, reliability, cost competitiveness, and customer satisfaction.

Need high performance in a small or special form factor? We can design, manufacture, and configure standard, modified, or custom products to meet your most demanding application requirements. Our application engineers are standing by. Give us a call from North America at 1-(877)-803-6647 or Worldwide at (203) 689-3400. Ask for Robert Annesley, Sales Manager.

COTS, MOTS, and ROTS are abbreviations that describe some of the different categories of hardware and software products which are available from CyberResearch, Inc.:

• COTS, MOTS, and ROTS Product Benefits
• COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) Products
• MOTS/ROTS (Modified/Ruggedized Off-the-Shelf) Products
• OEM Contract Manufacturing of Custom Built-to-Order Products
• Product Overview: CyberResearch offers One-Stop-Shopping with over 4000 Products
• PC Systems Handbook for Scientists and Engineers. Register Now for a Complimentary Copy. 200+ pages.
• One Stop Shopping: Over 4000 Products
• Customer List: Your in Good Company with CyberResearch, inc.
• CyberResearch's Unique 100% Satisfaction Guarantee

back to top

COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) products are products which are commercially available to the general public with published pricing and specifications. COTS products are typically used "as-is" and equivalent products based on industry standard specifications are readily available from multiple suppliers at competitive prices for immediate delivery from stock. Published pricing and specifications facilitates the purchase of an item at market pricing and reduces the need for formal competitive bidding with it's associated costs and time delays.

COTS products from CyberResearch are routinely used in aerospace, military, scientific, and industrial applications. These products can be use "as-is" without modification or they can be customized to meet your unique application requirements. See: MOTS/ROTS (Modified/Ruggedized Off-the-Shelf) Products.

In most cases, it no longer makes economic sense from a time, risk, or cost point-of-view to design a new Mil-Spec product from scratch for a specific application. Now, with the opportunity to take advantage of dual-use COTS products on defense projects, OEM system integrators can utilize the best available off-the-shelf hardware, software development kits, and operating system software to meet their needs. As a result, integrators can focus their efforts on the task-at-hand rather than having to design, build, and debug equivalent new Mil-Spec products.

By adhering to the use of common interfaces and broadly supported industry-standard COTS components, it is possible to create open system designs that provide a measure of compatibility from generation to generation. An extremely cost-effective approach to maximize cost/performance over the life of a project is to insert newer and higher performance COTS components at regular intervals as more advanced technology becomes available. The rapid prototyping and accelerated implementation of successive refinements made possible by COTS components can provide the shorter design/insertion cycles necessary to maintain an economical and continuous upgrade path.

Factors that can influence the selection of industry-standard COTS components include: availability, life expectancy, and backward compatibility. Over the life cycle of a project from design, qualification, production, and deployment, significant costs are incurred related to installation, training, maintainability, reliability, and operating costs of the COTS components chosen. Planning issues such as obsolescence management, software migration strategies, and hardware upgrades need to be considered in order to minimize total cost of ownership.

While some commercially available off-the-shelf COTS products have been designed specifically for use in relatively benign office environments, a majority of CyberResearch products have been designed specifically for use in severe industrial environments. To determine the suitability of a given COTS product for use in your application be sure to communicate to the CyberResearch application engineer as much information as possible about any unique environmental or operating performance capabilities which may be required. Give us a call from North America at 1-(877)-803-6647 or Worldwide at (203) 689-3400. Ask for Robert Annesley, Sales Manager.

back to top

MOTS/ROTS (Modified/Ruggedized Off-the-Shelf) Products are modified or ruggedized COTS products which can be used "as-is" or can be adapted by the end user, OEM system integrator, or manufacturer to meet the unique and demanding requirements of a specific application.

MOTS/ROTS products from CyberResearch are routinely used in demanding aerospace, military, scientific, and industrial applications. Many of these products feature modifiable or modular designs which increase flexibility, facilitate rapid prototyping of proof-of-concept designs, and are easy to install to insure quick start-up. By minimizing the need to develop new products from scratch, expensive engineering NRE (Non-Reoccurring Expenses) can be avoided and time to market can be dramatically reduced. MOTS products which feature compatibility with industry standards can often be easily integrated into legacy computer and data acquisition systems which are based on the same standards. By using industry-standard components, new technology can be inserted into a development program midstream to maintain technological superiority.

It is essential that an adequate assessment of performance requirements and environmental concerns be made to ensure low-risk insertion of "almost equivalent" COTS components into mission-critical defense and industrial applications. Many important electrical and mechanical design factors need to be considered including: functionality, packaging, operating temperature extremes, storage temperature extremes, humidity, shock levels and duration, random vibration spectra, air flow, air inlet temperature, barometric pressure, etc. In some cases, hardware may need to be repackaged to meet special form factor requirements or enclosures may need to be modified to survive in harsh, hostile, and extreme environmental conditions. Many performance enhancing upgrades are available including: waterproof bezels, AR bonding™ for enhanced sunlight LCD viewing, night LCD viewing enhancement, conformal coatings, stainless steel corrosion resistant enclosures, anti-vibration hold-down clamps, shock isolators, and enhanced cooling systems to meet extended environmental specifications. It is important to carefully document MOTS changes to facilitate future supportability. In the future, obsolete components can be economically replaced with similar MOTS components that offer the same form, fit, and function.

Our application engineers are standing by ready to to assist you in the development of MOTS/ROTS system solutions designed to meet the most demanding operating conditions and reliability issues. Give us a call from North America at 1-(877)-803-6647 or Worldwide at (203) 689-3400. Ask for Robert Annesley, Sales Manager.

back to top

OEM Contract Custom Built-to-Order products are designed, engineered, and manufactured by CyberResearch's new product development team on a custom OEM contract basis to meet each customer's unique application requirements.

CyberResearch has engaged in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of both standard, semi-custom, and custom high quality/high performance PC-based hardware and software solutions suitable for aerospace, military, scientific, and industrial applications since 1984. Now you can take advantage of our 20+ years of experience on your next built-to-order project. We can help you save time and money while minimizing time-to-market and reducing risk.

Has one of your favorite PC enclosures, industrial-duty LCD monitors, ruggedized keyboards, or data acquisition plug-in cards been discontinued? No problem! We can engineer a substitute based on your specifications and economical quantity requirements. When you can not find a standard off-the-shelf product that meets your needs consider giving us a call. We can usually come up with a standard, semi-custom, or custom solution for you. If you are an OEM who wants your own PC based product with its own unique high-end branded look, we can design a custom product for you, paint it your choice of color, and put your company's logo on it. Need to supply industrial PCs or data acquisition systems that meet the new European RoHS (The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive) requirements? We currently have hundreds of products available which already comply, with many more under development. Need a partner to outsource the design and manufacturing of industrial and laboratory automation systems? We can offer you a ready-to-use turn-key solution, at an affordable price based on quantity purchases, with quick turn-around.

The CyberResearch OEM in-house development team specializes in high-quality/high performance built-to-order products. We are experienced in working with customers to develop their ideas into cost effective reliable products. In addition, we can provide product life cycle management with continued incremental improvements to keep the cost/performance of your built-to-order product on the cutting edge of technology. New semi-custom and custom products are developed from the concept level, designed, engineered, prototyped, tested, and manufactured by CyberResearch. Many of these built-to-order products feature high-performance Intel CPUs, ruggedized packaging, special custom form-factors, expanded environmental operating ranges, custom colors and OEM product labeling, waterproof keyboards, 500 to 1500-nit brightness LCDs, AR bonding™ for enhanced sunlight viewing, ruggedized cabling with Mil-Spec connectors, etc. Typical built-to-order projects include: ruggedized computer enclosures and systems suitable for military and industrial applications, Microbox™ miniature and embedded PCs, sunlight readable LCD monitors, rackmount Foldaway&trade LCD/keyboards, DVR surveillance components and security systems, PC-based data acquisition I/O cards and systems, and CyMod™ modules and systems.

CyberResearch can configure and integrate complex systems made up of a combination of both standard, semi-custom, and custom built-to-order components. CyberResearch is the one-stop shopping source for over 4000 hard-to-find off-the-shelf industrial computers, ruggedized LCD monitors and PC-based data acquisition products.

Built-to-order products can be purchased in small, medium, or large production run quantities. Applicable product development schedules, pricing, quantity discounts, set-up and engineering NRE (Non-Reoccurring Expenses), and product delivery lead times are determined on a case-at-a-time basis. CyberResearch provides quick turn-around of customer requests for quotations. Our application engineers are standing-by, ready to assist you in the development of economical built-to-order system solutions designed to meet the most demanding operating conditions and reliability issues. Give us a call from North America at 1-(877)-803-6647 or Worldwide at (203) 689-3400. Ask for Robert Annesley, Sales Manager.

back to top

back to top

back to top