Eastech was the manufacturing partner (involved in development as well) for the Model 1050, Model 950, and Model 1070/970.

Etronics (now Inkel) was the Model 990 manufacturing partner. The Model 990 was developed using their Sherwood R-965/P-965 platform, but with some hardware changes (including XLR outputs and DVI switching) and a ton of new firmware. I don't recall why it was discontinued. I don't remember a parts availability problem (which isn't necessarily anybody's fault - see OPPO Digital's BDP-83 and BDP-80, both of which were discontinued because Sony quit making a critical part and redesigning around a replacement was deemed too expensive to be worth doing). I know it was in production for a number of years, though, and by the end there were more and more people commenting on its "outdated" feature set. At some point, it was appropriate to call it quits.

The Model 997 could easily have been shipped. Outlaw chose not to because their partner, who had already been successful for them with the Model 990, couldn't meet their requirements. Rather than sell something that they knew wouldn't satisfy Outlaw customers, they walked away. Tough choice to have to make. The biggest lesson there was likely to make sure they were more involved early in the design process, even if it was a platform that would be shared with another company. They applied that lesson to the Model 978, which was developed in the same style as the Eastech products (ground-up designs in which Outlaw had active oversight and involvement from the start).

The Model 978 development was apparently going well, as mentioned in the description of Scott's visits to the factory to help oversee design work. Predicting a disaster like that would seem difficult.