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38-639: In January 2014, IBM announced the sale of its x86 server business to Lenovo for $ 2.3 billion, in a sale completed October 1, 2014. Starting out with the PS/2 Server , then the IBM PC Server , rebranded Netfinity , then eServer xSeries and finally System x, these servers are distinguished by being based on off-the-shelf x86 CPUs ; IBM positioned them as their "low end" or "entry" offering compared to their POWER and Mainframe products. Previously IBM servers based on AMD Opteron CPUs did not share

76-501: A general marketing and branding concept implying exclusivity and limited runs. Bespoke is derived from the verb bespeak , meaning to "speak for something". The particular meaning of the verb form is first cited from 1583 and given in the Oxford English Dictionary : "to speak for, to arrange for, engage beforehand: to 'order' (goods)." The adjective "bespoken" means "ordered, commissioned, arranged for" and

114-664: A group is creating a make-work system to justify extra funding, rather than providing a low-cost system which meets the basic needs, regardless of the use of COTS products. Applying the lessons of processor obsolescence learned during the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor , the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II planned for processor upgrades during development, and switched to the more widely supported C++ programming language. They have also moved from ASICs to FPGAs . This moves more of

152-840: A major threat. Gartner predicts that "enterprise IT supply chains will be targeted and compromised, forcing changes in the structure of the IT marketplace and how IT will be managed moving forward". Also, the SANS Institute published a survey of 700 IT and security professionals in December 2012 that found that only 14% of companies perform security reviews on every commercial application brought in house, and over half of other companies do not perform security assessments. Instead companies either rely on vendor reputation (25%) and legal liability agreements (14%) or they have no policies for dealing with COTS at all and therefore have limited visibility into

190-427: A pair of spectacles"). One French bespoke shirtmaker was said to offer 400 shades of white, to satisfy vendor-customer relationships and desire for custom-made items. The New York Times devoted an article to bespoke cocktails, which they described as "something devised on the spot to a customer's precise and sometimes peculiar specifications". In another article, The New York Times described bespoke perfumes' taking

228-551: A reduction in initial cost and development time over an increase in software component-integration work, dependency on the vendor , security issues and incompatibilities from future changes. COTS software and services are built and delivered usually from a third party vendor. COTS can be purchased, leased or even licensed to the general public. COTS can be obtained and operated at a lower cost over in-house development, and provide increased reliability and quality over custom-built software as these are developed by specialists within

266-455: A replacement system. Such obsolescence problems have led to government-industry partnerships, where various businesses agree to stabilize some product versions for government use and plan some future features, in those product lines, as a joint effort. Hence, some partnerships have led to complaints of favoritism, to avoiding competitive procurement practices, and to claims of the use of sole-source agreements where not actually needed. There

304-423: Is a COTS software provider. Goods and construction materials may qualify as COTS but bulk cargo does not. Services associated with the commercial items may also qualify as COTS, including installation services, training services, and cloud services. COTS purchases are alternatives to custom software or one-off developments – government-funded developments or otherwise. Although COTS products can be used out of

342-420: Is also the danger of pre-purchasing a multi-decade supply of replacement parts (and materials) which would become obsolete within 10 years. All these considerations lead to compare a simple solution (such as "paper & pencil") to avoid overly complex solutions creating a " Rube Goldberg " system of creeping featurism , where a simple solution would have sufficed instead. Such comparisons also consider whether

380-417: Is an unusual form-factor in that you have two columns of 19" rack servers side-by-side in a single rack. This rack, unlike traditional racks, however was very shallow which is where the space saving came from for large installations. As such it only supports specially designed shallow servers. It was typically deployed in combination with a Rear Door Heat Exchanger (RDHx) to cool the exhaust heat with water. It

418-644: Is being discontinued and replaced by the Lenovo ThinkSystem family of Intel servers. 2nd digit increments to show capability 3rd digit is a 0 for tower models, and 5 for rack-mount 4th digit is a 0 for Intel processors, and 5 for AMD Opteron. Models with a T at the end are meant for Telco purposes. IBM System x iDataPlex, introduced in 2008, was used by many TOP500 supercomputers (as part of IBM Intelligent Cluster ), including SuperMUC , Yellowstone and Stampede . Other smaller installations included SciNet Consortium 's General Purpose Cluster It

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456-469: Is first cited from 1607. Originally, the adjective bespoke described tailor-made suits and shoes. According to Collins English Dictionary , the term was generally British English in 2008. American English more commonly uses the word custom instead, as in custom-made, custom car , or custom motorcycle . Nevertheless, bespoke has seen increased usage in American English during

494-513: Is integrated or networked with other software products to create a new composite application or a system of systems. The composite application can inherit risks from its COTS components. The US Department of Homeland Security has sponsored efforts to manage supply chain cyber security issues related to the use of COTS. However, software industry observers such as Gartner and the SANS Institute indicate that supply chain disruption poses

532-689: The xSeries brand; instead they fell directly under the e Server umbrella. However, later AMD Opteron-based servers did fall under the System x brand. 1998–2001 server line; Not to be confused with a software IBM product with a similar name, NetFinity (notice the capital F). The numbering scheme started off similar to that of the IBM PC Servers, but additional ranges were added, like the entry-level 1000 model later on. Models ending with an R, are rack-mount. Some Netfinity servers used IBM's C2T cabling scheme for Keyboard/Video/Mouse. IBM eServer

570-596: The "global communications boom" contributed to a "superset of English vocabulary"; another business writer explained that software companies in India were accustomed to adapting their language depending on the client, so that switching between bespoke software and custom software was the equivalent of switching between lift and elevator or queue and line . By 2008, the term was more often used to describe software, database and computer applications than suits, shirts or shoes. The BBC News Magazine wrote in 2008 that

608-518: The "world of personalization to an entirely new level". A 2016 The New York Times article describes a satirical video about bespoke water and observed: "The B word has become an increasingly common branding lure employed by interior design companies, publishers, surgeons and pornographers. There are bespoke wines, bespoke software, bespoke vacations, bespoke barber shops, bespoke insurance plans, bespoke yoga, bespoke tattoos, even bespoke medical implants." A 2022 Saveur Magazine article described

646-426: The 19th century, most clothing was made to measure , or bespoke, whether made by professional tailors or dressmakers , or as often, at home. The same applied to many other types of goods. With the advent of industrialised ready to wear clothing, bespoke became largely restricted to the top end of the market, and is now normally considerably more expensive, at least in developed countries. At some point after that,

684-419: The 21st century. The word bespoke is most known for its "centuries-old relationship" with tailor-made suits , but the Oxford English Dictionary also ties the word to shoemaking in the mid-1800s. Although it is now used as an adjective, it was originally used as the past participle of bespeak . According to a spokesperson for Collins English Dictionary, it later came to mean to discuss , and then to

722-585: The BladeCenter which supports non-Intel processor products were not branded xSeries, but were instead placed directly under the eServer brand. The xSeries brand was limited to only Intel-based server products. From a numbering perspective the AMD servers did fit into the xSeries range, under the similar x335 and x336 Intel processor products. These numbers were not re-used in the xSeries range to prevent confusion. While most servers used Intel x86 (IA32) processors,

760-512: The COTS product. The use of COTS has been mandated across many government and business programs, as such products may offer significant savings in procurement, development, and maintenance. Motivations for using COTS components include hopes for reduction system whole of life costs. In the 1990s, many regarded COTS as extremely effective in reducing the time and cost of software development . COTS software came with many not-so-obvious tradeoffs –

798-491: The adjective describing something that was discussed in advance , which is how it came to be associated with tailor-made apparel. The word was used as an adjective in A Narrative of the Life of Mrs Charlotte Charke , the 1755 autobiography of the actress Charlotte Charke , which refers to The Beaux' Stratagem as "a bespoke play". After that, the adjective was generally associated with men's tailor-made suits. Before about

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836-464: The avionic design from fixed circuits to software that can be applied to future generations of hardware. COTS components are part of upgrades to the sonar of United States Navy submarines. Bespoke Bespoke ( / b i ˈ s p oʊ k / ) describes anything commissioned to a particular specification (altered or tailored to the customs, tastes, or usage of an individual purchaser). In contemporary usage, bespoke has become

874-405: The bespoke drive was anti-tradition, and about a desire to be different rather than identify collectively with others. Newsweek described the word as "monstrously distorted, abused and otherwise mangled into near meaninglessness", saying that anything can now be labeled "bespoke". The same Newsweek writer used the word as a verb to describe ordering a custom-made pair of glasses ("bespeaking

912-458: The box, in practice the COTS product must be configured to achieve the needs of the business and integrated to existing organizational systems. Extending the functionality of COTS products via custom development is also an option, however this decision should be carefully considered due to the long term support and maintenance implications. Such customized functionality is not supported by the COTS vendor, so brings its own sets of issues when upgrading

950-480: The device itself if the steps are not taken to ensure fair and safe standards are complied with. The standard IEC 62304:2006 "Medical device software – Software life cycle processes" outlines specific practices to ensure that SOUP components support the safety requirements for the device being developed. In the case where the software components are COTS, DHS best practices for COTS software risk review can be applied. Simply being COTS software does not necessarily imply

988-497: The humble guacamole as "...bespoke: Diners could make their guac mild, medium, or hot". The UK Savile Row Bespoke Association has requirements for a garment to use the term bespoke , but those requirements are not followed by some manufacturers. In 2008, the British Advertising Standards Agency allowed a company, Sartoriani, to use bespoke to describe its suits, causing a controversy with

1026-500: The industry and are validated by various independent organizations, often over an extended period of time. According to the United States Department of Homeland Security , software security is a serious risk of using COTS software. If the COTS software contains severe security vulnerabilities it can introduce significant risk into an organization's software supply chain . The risks are compounded when COTS software

1064-617: The lack of a fault history or transparent software development process. For well documented COTS software a distinction as clear SOUP is made, meaning that it may be used in medical devices. A striking example of product obsolescence are PlayStation 3 clusters , which used Linux to operate. Sony disabled the use of Linux on the PS3 in April 2010, leaving no means to procure functioning Linux replacement units . In general, COTS product obsolescence can require customized support or development of

1102-562: The needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of custom-made, or bespoke , solutions. A related term, Mil-COTS , refers to COTS products for use by the U.S. military. In the context of the U.S. government , the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) has defined "COTS" as a formal term for commercial items, including services, available in the commercial marketplace that can be bought and used under government contract. For example, Microsoft

1140-445: The risks introduced into their software supply chain by COTS. In the medical device industry, COTS software can sometimes be identified as SOUP ( software of unknown pedigree or software of unknown provenance), i.e., software that has not been developed with a known software development process or methodology, which precludes its use in medical devices. In this industry, faults in software components could become system failures in

1178-531: The term bespoke at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office , with half of those having been filed only in the previous 18 months. The Wall Street Journal said that the term had started to proliferate in corporations and among investors a few years before that. A writer in The Independent said that consumers no longer wanted to "keep up with the Joneses", but wanted to set themselves apart, saying that

Lenovo System x - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-565: The word bespoke came to be applied to more than tailoring, although it is unclear exactly when. Mark-Evan Blackman of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York told The Wall Street Journal in 2012 that the "bespoke proliferation may be tied to young Hollywood types becoming enamored with custom suits about a decade ago". The Wall Street Journal article said that "language purists" were not happy, while suit makers said

1254-403: The word had been "bastardized". In 1990, American writer William Safire questioned in a New York Times article what had become of "custom, a word fading from our fashion vocabulary in a blizzard of British usage". In a play on words, he wrote of the snob appeal of the word: "To be suitably trendy, bespeak to me of bespoke tailoring." Gentlemen's Quarterly magazine wrote that the word

1292-559: The word had increasingly been used to describe things other than websites, suits and shoes—like cars and furniture. Some examples of usage of the word are: Deborah Tannen , a Georgetown University linguistics professor, told The New York Times that "Americans associate it with the British upper class", adding that the word for Americans tapped into "our individualism. We want everything made specially for us. Even when it comes to salad bars." As of 2012 , there were 39 applications using

1330-481: The x380, x382, x450 and x455 used the Intel Itanium (IA64) processor. Many xSeries servers used IBM's C2T cabling scheme for Keyboard/Video/Mouse. These systems are effectively the same as the previous IBM branded models, but with a Lenovo badge. Lenovo also had its own ThinkServer family of Intel servers. This family is technically less advanced than System x. At the time of this writing, System x

1368-549: Was "gaining in popularity", meaning "the opposite of off-the-rack". In its contemporary usage, it implies exclusivity, and is used as an aid in marketing and branding. A 2014 India Today article described bespoke as an emerging branding trend that marketers would need to embrace. A 2001 google search of "bespoke and software" produced 50,000 hits, many not in the UK or the US. The New York Times quoted an Indian tech director as saying

1406-681: Was a marketing effort to put all of the diverse IBM server platforms under one header. The AS/400 became the IBM eServer iSeries , the RS/6000 became the IBM eServer pSeries , the S/390 mainframe became the IBM eServer zSeries and the Intel processor based IBM Netfinity servers became the IBM eServer xSeries. A few exceptions were however made For marketing reasons the AMD processor based e325, e326 and e326m and

1444-609: Was replaced with IBM NeXtScale in 2014. iDataPlex could be ordered as preconfigured rack tower (System x iDataPlex Rack with optional Rack management appliance), or as independent nodes. iDataPlex 100U rack — compact dual rack ((1200x600mm footprint — instead of standard 1280x1050 (2x 42U rack)) Chassis also compatible with standard racks (with another rails). 1U blade servers. Commercial off-the-shelf Commercial-off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf ( COTS ) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to

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