Foundations
Any TOS rests on three foundations: infrastructure, database, and development platform. The essential qualities of any foundations are durability and stability, as replacing them is not feasible. We must recognise that the TOS is mission-critical, and that its missions will evolve over time. As such, all three foundations must be judged on: stability, high availability, performance, scalability, security, redundancy, effective vendor support, ease of service, precision, accuracy, extensibility, ease of integration, ease of customisation, and the ready availability of professionals who can maintain and improve them. The foundations must be highly resistant to failure. Failures must be open to rapid repair. The foundations must be designed to accommodate change, growth and evolution without pain or disruption. The foundations must both reflect and foster mature and sophisticated quality control.
