Will COTS, open architecture equipment find a place in civil avionics?

The cost of fully proprietary system development and sustainment will continue to rise, making the case for adopting COTS (the right sort of COTS) increasingly more attractive. This paper has demonstrated that this is now becoming a viable and beneficial reality. With the introduction of the Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) requirements for military aircraft, the author predicts that the military, with their extensive experience of COTS deployment, will lead the way and be the first to introduce flight-safety certifiable, COTS-based equipment meeting the same stringent requirements set for the civil avionics market.