industrial strength

Refers to hardware or software that is designed for fault tolerant operation. It mostly refers to software that has built-in safeguards against system failures. For example, an industrial-strength operating system runs its applications in protected address spaces and does not lock up the computer if an application fails. Industrial-strength features in a DBMS are referential integrity and two-phase commit. Programs become industrial strength after being thoroughly tested in live user environments for extensive periods. See bulletproof.

Beyond the Software Itself

Being popular with IT people, the term has expanded beyond an adjective for only the software. In these book titles, "industrial strength" refers to tried and true methods used to manage software as well as other electronic products. (Images courtesy of O'Reilly, www.oreilly.com)

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Industrial Strength Grout Cleaner