The US military's network-centric warfare (NCW) vision imposes significant system-level requirements. New systems need to be far more capable, yet be cheaper, smaller, lighter, and consume less power. Many programs now have streamlined acquisition requirements. And these systems have to interoperate with a wide variety of current force systems. Repurposing true commercial off-the-shelf products for the military looks like an attractive option. But while COTS products have the potential to offer advanced technology at very attractive costs, they do not completely deliver on DoD's vision, especially regarding backwards interoperability. Open systems, on the other hand, emphasize the use of standards and implementations that conform to DoD standards. The plug-and-play and multisource features of open systems provide a framework for the effective use of COTS products for military, aerospace and government applications. Open standards-based modular platform architecture provides a foundation capable of accelerating and sustaining force transformation.