Change in electronic technology is accelerating throughout all industries. Hardware technology goes out of manufacture because of lack of demand. Lifetime buys to address obsolescence are shortsighted. The solution is to design out technology going obsolete before it affects product availability.
Let’s face it, customers get nervous when a supplier changes a design, even if the new design is, “form, fit and function” compatible. In the military and defense world, configuration changes are under great scrutiny, even if it is COTSCommercial Off-the-Shelf (Commercial off the Shelf) technology. The medical, networking, automotive, factory automation and industrial control industries all have varying degrees of tolerance for design changes.
Source:
http://www.capacitorindustry.com/hardware-obsolescence-in-electronics
