Service Availability Forum

Formed in 2001, it promotes development and deployment of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology.

As software has come to dominate the landscape, the probability of failure is often much higher for applications than it is for hardware and so these concepts have been extended encompass an overall view of service availability where downtime, irrespective of its cause, is an exceptionally rare event.

Services and applications should always be available, whether it is during abnormal system operation, scheduled maintenance, or software upgrade, for example.

[citation needed] SA Forum support commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology for uninterrupted service availability, application portability and seamless integration.

Collaborating industry organizations include the following:[citation needed] Specifications for carrier-grade service availability include: The SA Forum free educational materials enable self-guided training the SA Forum specifications:

COTS "ecosystem" diagram
SA Forum enabled COTS platform
SAFORUM Cartoon Series
The SA Forum’s Walter’s Moments cartoon series helps explain the benefits of service availability to a wider audience.