COTS-Based Systems (CBS) Initiative
The content of this site was generated from the work of the SEI COTS-Based Systems (CBS) initiative. The focus was to learn, mature, and transition principles, methods, and techniques for creating systems from commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. We have since expanded our focus to improving the creation and sustainment of systems from any set of largely off-the-shelf (rather than only commercial) constituents.
We are now the Integration of Software-Intensive Systems (ISIS) Initiative. However, since use of COTS products continues to grow, we are keeping this site available for those who will find our past work helpful. The SEI CBS Initiative addressed the challenges of assembling systems from pre-existing components and of adapting legacy systems to take advantage of a CBS engineering strategy. COTS-based engineering arrives at a solution through a set of iterative activities that preserve flexibility while simultaneously addressing such issues as business processes, product evaluation and acquisition, system evolution, programmatic and technical factors, and vendor and customer relations. We hope that practitioners, managers, and all those involved in adoption of COTS products for their organizations' systems will find this body of knowledge useful.
New to COTS? Go to an overview.
Looking for something particular? Go to a detailed list.
One Day Seminar
Leveraging Commercial Products: A Systems Integration Approach
Products and Services
Courses
- COTS-Based Systems for Program Managers
- COTS Software Evaluation for Practitioners
- Building Systems with Commercial Components (BSCC)
- Modernizing Legacy Systems (MLS)
- Open Systems for Executives
- Open Systems: The Promises and the Pitfalls