THE WHATIS.COM WORD-OF-THE-DAY March 27, 2003 COTS, MOTS, GOTS, and NOTS
______________ SPONSORED BY: Global Knowledge BECOME THE EXPERT! Global Knowledge is a worldwide leader in IT education and enterprise training solutions, offering more than 700 courses. For a limited time purchase any 3 courses at one time, and get $1,000 off the total! Choices include Network Security, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, and Linux Administration. Click here to review our entire course catalog http://WhatIs.com/r/0,,11697,00.htm?globalknowledge ________________ TODAY'S WORD: COTS, MOTS, GOTS, and NOTS See our complete definition with hyperlinks at http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid11_gci789218,00.html COTS, MOTS, GOTS, and NOTS are abbreviations that describe pre-packaged software or (less commonly) hardware purchase alternatives. A COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) product is one that is used "as-is." COTS products are designed to be easily installed and to interoperate with existing system components. Almost all software bought by the average computer user fits into the COTS category: operating systems, office product suites, word processing, and e-mail programs are among the myriad examples. One of the major advantages of COTS software, which is mass-produced, is its relatively low cost. A MOTS (either modified or modifiable off-the-shelf, or military off-the-shelf, depending on the context) product is typically a COTS product whose source code can be modified. The product may be customized by the purchaser, by the vendor, or by another party to meet the requirements of the customer. In the military context, MOTS refers to an off-the-shelf product that is developed or customized by a commercial vendor to respond to specific military requirements. Because a MOTS product is adapted for a specific purpose, it can be purchased and used immediately. However, since MOTS software specifications are written by external sources, government agencies are sometimes leery of these products, because they fear that future changes to the product will not be in their control. A GOTS (government off-the-shelf) product is typically developed by the technical staff of the government agency for which it is created. It is sometimes developed by an external entity, but with funding and specification from the agency. Because agencies can directly control all aspects of GOTS products, these are generally preferred for government purposes. A NOTS (NATO off-the-shelf or niche off-the-shelf, depending on the context) product is developed by NC3A (for NATO Consultation, Command, and Control) to meet specific requirements for NATO. In the more general context, niche off-the-shelf refers to vendor-developed software that is for a specialized and narrow market segment, in comparison to the broad market for COTS products. Unrelated but rhyming is POTS, an acronym for "plain old telephone service." RELATED TERMS: POTS (rhymefully related) http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci214310,00.html ______________ SELECTED LINKS: The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation uses some of these terms in a paper about software validation. http://www.a2la.org/pdfs/adequate_for_use.pdf SearchCRM.com lists customer relationship management software vendors, some of whom may offer off-the-shelf ware. http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/bestWebLinks/0,289521,sid11_tax286888,00.html EDGE Perspectives offers a paper, "Commercial Off-the-Shelf Software - Benefits and Burdens." http://www.mitre.org/pubs/edge_perspectives/march_01/ep_king.htm ______________ TODAY'S TECH NEWS: INTERSAN EXTENDS PATHLINE AUTOMATION FEATURES InterSAN is prepping for an upgrade of its Pathline management and automation product. http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid5_gci887497,00.html CIO, CPO RELATIONSHIP BECOMING KEY IN IT SHOPS With government initiatives such as HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) turning up the pressure to protect customer data, organizations have recognized the need to rank privacy ahead of almost all other issues. http://searchcio.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid19_gci887780,00.html FREIGHT COMPANY HAULS IN 37,000 WINDOWS PATCHES Administrators at freight giant CNF have installed an eye-popping 37,000 Windows desktop patches since August. An IT manager with CNF explained why they needed so many, and he offered some patch management advice for those who need to patch things up in their own organizations. http://searchwindowsmanageability.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid33_gci887247,00.html >> Catch up on all the latest IT news at http://searchtechtarget.techtarget.com/ ______________________ KNOW-IT-ALL QUESTION | Do you speak geek? This operating system originated at Bell Labs in 1969 as an interactive time-sharing system. a. BASIC b. DOS c. Linux d. Unix >> See correct answer http://searchsolaris.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid12_gci213253,00.html ______________________ QUIZ #36 | Linux Basics Take our latest quiz and see how much you know about Linux. Make Linus Torvalds proud! >> Click to take the quiz http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid39_gci882525,00.html ______________________________ RECENT ADDITIONS AND UPDATES [1] non-geographic number http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci885964,00.html [2] Internet Key Exchange http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci884946,00.html [3] Wi-Fi Protected Access http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci887323,00.html [4] Learning Guide: Introduction to XML http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci887243,00.html [5] Learning Guide: Security Policy Primer http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci887248,00.html ____________________________________________________________________ ::::::::::::::::::: WHATIS.COM CONTACTS ::::::::::::::::::: LOWELL THING, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ____________________________________________________________________ MARGARET ROUSE, Associate Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___________________________________________________________________ :::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER ::::::::::::::::::::: Published by TechTarget (http://www.techtarget.com) TechTarget - The Most Targeted IT Media Copyright 2003, All Rights Reserved. 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