SEMINAR:

"Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) Software in Mission Critical Applications: Benefits, Risks and Mitigations"

by: Ronald J. Kohl
President, R. J. Kohl & Assoc
Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute
rjkohl@prodigy.net

209 S Henderson, Monday, April 23, 1:25 - 2:15 PM

(AERSP 440)

Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) products are being considered for inclusion in ever more complex and critical systems. There are clearly advantages to consider the use of COTS in such complex or critical systems but given the rigorous needs of such critical systems or subsystems, there have begun to emerge concerns about the suitability of COTS for such applications. This paper hopes to identify some of the characteristics of Mission Critical systems that makes the selection process of COTS products (h/w, s/w, subsystems, etc) an emerging factor in total system acceptance. Mission Critical System characteristics such as reliability, safety, availability, maintainability and certification tend to influence whether or not COTS should even be considered for a given application. Once the suitability of COTS has been determined, then it is possible that additional requirements may be placed on the product and/or the product's vendor for such Mission Critical applications. Further, it is possible that certain system requirements and expectations may need to be modified because of the inclusion of COTS products into that system. As COTS products continue to be considered as candidates for inclusion within Mission Critical systems, there are likely to be additional concerns and factors to emerge that will influence how both acquirers and suppliers decide if and/or when to use COTS products. This presentation will address some of the benefits, the risks and risk mitigation approaches, especially as they relate to Mission Critical Systems. Biography: Ron Kohl has been involved in the large systems development and integration business for 30 yrs. Ron was a part of the IBM team on the Space Shuttle Flight Software project and the Space Station (Freedom) Data Management System. Ron has also worked for the Lockheed Martin Federal Systems HQ Tech Staff and was the Chief Systems Engineer for the Titan Co's Civil Government Systems' NASA projects, supporting the NASA IV&V Facility. Ron's areas of technical interest and activity include risk management, COTS Based systems, process engineering/improvement, measurements, and system/enterprise architecting. Ron is also active in the space based commerce and space based settlement areas. Ron is President of R. J. Kohl & Assoc, a provide of systems engineering consulting services and is also a part time Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute. Ron is a member of the AIAA (Associate Fellow), IEEE and INCOSE and is the former chair of the AIAA Software Systems Technical Committee. Ron has a B.S. in Math from Univ of Wis. - Oshkosh and an M.S. in Math from So. Ill. Univ.-Edwardsville.