Tech firm expanding into Asia

Tech firm expanding into Asia

The flag of Hong Kong. Photo via wikimedia.org

A local technology firm is entering the Asian market.

Grand Rapids-based Open Systems Technologies, or OST, said today it is expanding its global presence by adding employees based in Hong Kong and Singapore to help “serve its Fortune 500 clients with faster speed-to-market service.”

The multi-office firm plans to open offices in the countries after operations there are up and running.

OST President and CEO Meredith Bronk expects the new offices to generate an additional $12 million in revenue annually.

The $160-million firm, founded in 1997, has 210 employees focused on data centers, design strategy, software development, data analytics and IoT.

“We established a presence in Hong Kong and Singapore, so we can serve our global clients in the most effective and efficient way,” Bronk said. “OST aligns to the cadence of our customers and for enterprise customers, this means a need for more global-level solutions.”

The expansion into Asia has had an “immediate impact on hiring domestically” in Michigan and Minneapolis, said Michael Lomonaco, director of marketing and communications, OST.

He said the number employees for OST Hong Kong and OST Singapore will depend on how quickly the firm ramps up those operations.

OST began opening additional offices in 2008 with its Minneapolis location. Detroit followed in 2013, London in 2014 and Chicago in 2015.

Markets served in Asia

Most of the expected $12 million in additional revenues will come from data center and cloud storage services.

“Data center modernization as a service is something OST has mastered,” OST Chief Innovation Officer Jim VanderMey said.

“Multi-national companies require partners that understand how to provide a continuum of services across the globe, and OST has created solutions which enable that seamless integration.” 

Initial global expansion

The firm’s global expansion began with its London office.

OST has two employees based full-time in the London office, for $12 million in revenue.

The firm’s international expansion is helped along by partner companies such as HPE, Cisco, EMC and Ingram Micro.

“Our reasoning for opening OST London was to further solidify our relationship with a couple of major customers, but also to gain the experience of operating as an international company,” Bronk said. 

“We found that having a global presence made OST even more desirable to existing enterprise accounts and part of what attracted new multi-national companies to do business with us.”