Modified COTS
What is MCOTS and who needs it?
COTS, Commercial Off-The-Shelf, refers to standard products that are usually available from stock. They are designed for general-purpose applications with the features that many users require. In addition, since COTS products are sold in the commercial marketplace they are, per Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), available to be used within government contracts.
Finding and using a quality COTS product from a trusted source will save significant time, reduce costs, and reduce risk, when creating a new system around an embedded computer. But what if there is no standard (COTS) board available that meets all the needed requirements? That’s where MCOTS (modified COTS) comes in!
Modified COTS (MCOTS) utilizes a COTS product as a starting point, which is then modified to meet a customer-specific requirement.
VersaLogic can modify or selectively populate standard products to add features or lower costs to fit your needs. For more information, contact the VersaLogic Technical Sales team by completing the form below with your requirements.
VersaLogic’s MCOTS program utilizes a standard COTS product as a starting point, and then modifies it to meet customer-specific needs. This approach has many advantages.
The original design time and costs associated with a COTS product have already been incurred. The only changes made to the original COTS board are those necessary to meet the additional specifications. Because modified COTS projects start with an already-proven platform, the risk of design errors – which would require time-consuming testing and correction – is significantly reduced, helping the project stay on-time and on-budget.
Typical Modifications
What kind of modifications can be made? Here is a list of typical changes that can be made to standard COTS boards.
- Extreme ruggedization
- Connector and I/O changes
- Component removal
- Conformal coating
- Memory (or storage) installation and/or testing
- Environmental screening
- Custom splash screen/boot-up message
- BIOS modifications
- Special cabling
- Special testing
- Special labeling
- Software pre-loading
- Special software and drivers
- Application-specific testing
- Product revision locks
- Etc.
VersaLogic can modify or selectively populate standard products to add features or lower costs to fit your needs. Modifications are available for OEM customers in quantities as low as 25 pieces. For more information, contact the VersaLogic Technical Sales team by completing the form below with your requirements.
Benefits of Modified COTS
- Quality controlled (all mods documented and repeatable)
- Low quantity requirements (25 piece minimum)
- Optimized Bill-of-Material (BOM) for cost savings
- Fast implementation (typically 30 days)
- Reduced engineering time and cost
- Minimized project risk
Modifying existing off-the-shelf products to meet specific project requirements is an important alternative to consider when time-to-market is important. Using the modified COTS program radically reduces time, risk and cost compared to a custom solution. It enables the creation of designs that are more optimized to specific applications.
For more complex requirements VersaLogic also offers full custom product engineering. If the MCOTS program can’t address your special requirements, VersaLogic can provide a competitive bid on a fully custom SBC or I/O product designs.