Making All the Difference: One Stop Systems Delivers the Promise of High Power Computing Across a Diverse Range of Global Industries

“We lead the state-of-the-art in many areas of high computing hardware and software” - Steve Cooper 

In the decades since the invention of the computer, the advent of High Performance Computing has brought dramatic improvements to our quality of life, driving scientific innovation, enhancing engineering design and consumer goods manufacturing, as well as strengthening our national security.

The critical nature of high performance computing has been long recognized and emphasized by both government and major industries, with ongoing massive investments in areas encompassing weather forecasting, scientific research, oil and gas exploration, healthcare, media and artificial intelligence.

So, we are thrilled to present One Stop Systems

(Nasdaq: OSS), a rapidly emerging global leader in specialized high-performance computing systems. The company designs and manufactures high performance compute accelerators, flash storage arrays and customized servers for deep learning, AI, defense, finance and entertainment applications.

OSS leverages the power of PCI Express, the latest GPU accelerators and NVMe flash cards to build award-winning systems -- including many industry firsts -- for OEMs and government customers. The company’s innovative hardware and Ion accelerator software offers exceptional performance and unparalleled scalability.

OSS products are available directly from the company or through global distributors, while its new SkyScale service offers multi-GPU high performance computing in the Cloud.

At the beginning of February this year, the company’s stock commenced trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “OSS,” with the IPO raising the company gross proceeds of $19.5 million.

The company was established in 1998, and is headquartered in Escondido, California.

Interview Excerpt: Steve Cooper, Co-founder/CEO

Why was the company set up? How did you select the vertical and decide to be a part of the global platform?

Our vision is to become the dominant supplier of customized high-performance computing systems worldwide. We intend to achieve this by offering the latest technologies in high-performance computing for applications that require specialized designs, including ruggedization and demanding specifications for size, weight and power.

We started the company with modest funding from the founders and other angel investors. Over the years, most of our growth has been funded organically through profits and cash flow. This boot-strap approach was challenging, but did instil in us the positive attributes of cost-consciousness and monetary restraint, with a keen focus on investing our resources on opportunities that promised the greatest growth.

We have grown dramatically in recent years, which allowed us to take the company public with our IPO in February of this year. Our growth drivers are OEM and military program design-ins that are ramping up, new design wins and strategic mergers and acquisitions.

Tell us about your leading products that were launched recently.

Our leading products include GPU compute accelerators, flash arrays and application-specific servers.

Our compute accelerators provide industry-leading performance by offering more GPU computing in less rack space than any other – 16 GPU cards in a 3U system.

Our flash arrays offer superior performance, density, ruggedness and media mobility, while our application-specific servers include systems optimized for event video display control. Some models can drive 16 high-definition displays with full visual effects for high-end events. For example, our video display system was used at the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show.

We also offer systems that are optimized for size, weight and power, and which can be embedded within medical imaging systems.

How do you know you have the right business model?

Our growth in sales, which was up 46% to a record $27.5 million in 2017, along with strong, positive cash flow, we believe demonstrates we have the right business model for our industry. Our marquee customer base that includes major global enterprises like Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, National Instruments, Western Digital and disguise, also speaks to this.

Our business model involves collaborating and co-designing perfect fit solutions for our customers. This approach involves a long sales and design cycle, but has the advantage of developing in-depth customer relationships that will last many years. Approaching customers with the attitude and ability to deliver exactly the product they want and when they want it is usually for them a refreshing and compelling value proposition.

How has your company expanded along with its offering over the years?

Technically, the greatest advances in the high-performance computing space are coming from the move toward flash storage arrays and GPU computing. As the world gathers more and more data at higher and higher speeds, there is increasingly a tremendous need for fast, high-capacity storage and high-performance computing data analysis. Flash arrays and GPU compute accelerators address this need head-on. This is the world of big data and compute analytics/artificial intelligence. We are a world leader in both of these technologies, which has been key to our recent rapid growth.

How does your company contribute to the global IT platform and society at large?

We are continuing to advance the state-of-the-art in many areas of high computing hardware and software. More broadly, our computing systems are providing the backbone for many high-computing artificial intelligence, medical imaging and research breakthroughs happening in the world today. Our computers have also been a part of major scientific discoveries, including Cern’s Large Hadron Collider and the recent Gravitational Wave discoveries.

Do you have any new products coming onto the market?

Our latest product announcements include a new family of flash array systems based on a new release of the Ion software. These products combine the latest NVMe flash technology with extremely low-latency software which together provide exceptional overall performance.

Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

Our recent IPO provided us the means to accelerate our already rapid growth, both organically and through mergers and acquisitions. Over the coming years, we expect to realize our vision of becoming the dominant provider of specialized high-performance computing systems worldwide.

The Brain Behind the Operation

Steve Cooper: Steve Cooper has more than 37 years’ experience running high-technology, high-growth businesses, and has been responsible for many technical innovations, including multiple patents and awards. He led OSS since its inception 20 years ago to become a leading supplier of high performance computing systems. His background includes engineering, sales and marketing, and executive management positions at Intel, RadiSys, I-Bus and SBS Technologies. He holds a BSEE degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.