OCF boss: Variety is the spice of business life

High-performance computing specialist is reaping the benefits after growing its vendor partner base

After experiencing minor teething problems when IBM sold its X86 server business to Lenovo, high-performance computing (HPC) specialist OCF is gearing up for double-digit growth in 2016.

The integrator, which previously worked primarily with IBM as a Preferred Partner, has expanded its pool of vendors to include Fujitsu, NetApp and Datadirect Networks (DDN) among others, and says it is winning larger contracts as a result.

Julian Fielden (pictured), managing director of OCF, told CRN that widening its stable of vendors had been a lucrative move.

"We think our business model has evolved because there is an increased need for someone to act as systems integrator in the HPC and big data environments," he said. "No one vendor really supplies all the elements and you have to bring in all sorts of technology to meet the customers' requirements.

"We have developed the quality of our partner ecosystem and that means we have the strongest integration offering in the market, with contracts becoming bigger and more complex, and people thinking more strategically in terms of how they provide HPC and big data services."

He admitted that things had initially been tough when IBM sold its sever business to Lenovo.

"It caused a bit of a hiccup as it took a while for things to bed down and for Lenovo to work out where they had to go," Fielden said. "But now they have some real weight behind their strategy, and we are winning significant contracts with them. The difference is that with IBM, its server business was its lowest-margin business, but with Lenovo, it is its highest-margin business, and they have big ambitions to be number one."

He said the fact that the government is investing in research, and the collaborative element of OCF's installations such as a recent win with eMedLab, means the future is looking rosy.

"We are a £20m turnover company at the moment and it looks likely that this year we will stay the same due to the slow start to the year. But for the financial year to 2017 we are expecting growth to be in double digits," he said.

Fielden added that the firm is also looking to grow headcount in the new year, which currently stands at 40.