SAN DIEGO, Calif. - COTScon West 2000, the West Coast's premiere conference on designing military and aerospace systems with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, subsystems, and software, will be 12 to 13 Dec. 2000 at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego.

The theme of the conference and exhibition is "COTS: Challenging The Design Limits," and will center on some of the most demanding applications of COTS to date.

The COTScon West 2000 conference manager is seeking papers on pertinent subjects from experts in the military and aerospace electronics field. Topics for COTScon West 2000 papers may include, but are not limited to: the international perspective on COTS design; component upscreening; successful applications of COTS components and subsystems in military platforms; COTS vs. mil-spec issues; the DOD policy evolution; the DOD perspective on the need for COTS; the case for mil-spec and customer design; whether QML and COTS are in conflict; the perspective of prime integrators on the need for COTS; diminishing manufacturing sources (DMS); the need and the place for plastic encapsulated microcircuits (PEMs); sources of military and aerospace research funding in the COTS world; COTS opportunities in defense industry consolidation; trends in nonrecurring engineering in the COTS world; trends in upgrading older military systems with COTS components; trends in open-systems architecture design; and the armadillo approach - hard on the outside and soft on the inside - of designing with rugged enclosures, shock-isolation packaging, and commercial-grade components.

PennWell's monthly magazine Military & Aerospace Electronics has highlighted the latest COTS developments in its exclusive COTS Watch section for the past six years. This magazine, which has been the authority in COTS longer than any other publication, also expands its news coverage and opinion to interactive conference formats on both coasts.

COTS design practices revolve around the 1994 directive by then-Defense Secretary William Perry for military systems designers to use COTS components and subsystems wherever possible.

The deadline for abstract proposals is May 19. Proposals should include a 50-to-100-word synopsis of the presentation, and three to five bullet points on what conference attendees will learn from each presentation.

Send abstracts to Sheri Kovalcheck at PennWell by e-mail at sherik@pennwell.com, by fax at 603-891-9490, or by post at 98 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, N.H. 03062-2801. To get questions answered, contact Ms. Kovalcheck or John Keller, chief editor of Military & Aerospace Electronics, by phone at 603-891-9117, or by e-mail at jkeller@pennwell.com.

For more information or for registering for COTScon West 2000, contact Lisa Kimball by phone at 603-891-9267, by fax at 603-891-9490, or by e-mail at lkimball@pennwell.com. Those interested in exhibiting at COTScon West 2000 may contact Maureen Kane by phone at 603-891-9423, by fax at 603-891-9490, or by e-mail at maureenk@pennwell.com.