Trust but Verify week part 3
Hey NetApp – what does Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) mean to you? Please define…..

Read the complete interview that the excerpts below are from. the Australian
(Interviewer) Over time do you see NetApp growing more into a software company than a hardware company?

(Netapp) We think of ourselves in the hardware sense as using standard off-the-shelf components. We’ve never done an integrated circuit design or an ASIC or whatever.

Question 1) If this statement is true why would Xyratex who makes NetApp’s shelves tell folks who try to order a DS14 mk2 shelf or an ESH2 that these parts are proprietary NetApp designs? Aren’t standard off the shelf components available to the general public? – According to the Wikipedia definition of the term they should be.

Question 2) If this statement is true how come when folks call Jabil Circuit to buy NVRam cards they are told they are NetApp proprietary designs? Aren’t standard off the shelf components available to the general public? – According to the Wikipedia definition of the term they should be.

From Wikipedia

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) is a term for software or hardware products that are ready-made and available for sale, lease, or license to the general public. They are often used as alternatives to in-house developments or one-off government-funded developments. The use of COTS is being mandated across many government and business programs, as they may offer significant savings in procurement and maintenance. used immediately.