Christian Dallmann established DALCO in Zurich in 1995 and has led the company for three decades, building it into a specialist integrator trusted by some of the most demanding organizations in scientific research, motorsport, aerospace and financial services. His leadership has been defined by a single standard: infrastructure engineered to the precise demands of the client, without exception.
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Meet Dalco
BUILT TO PERFORM.
DESIGNED FOR PERFORMANCE.
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Leadership
Meet the people behind our performance and precision.
As Chief Financial Officer of DALCO, François Dallmann is responsible for the financial strategy and operational planning that enable the company to deliver at the highest level. He joined DALCO in 2000 and has since played a central role in shaping the commercial and
financial foundations that have supported the company’s growth across high-performance computing, AI infrastructure and enterprise hardware.
Pascal Suter is Chief Technology Officer at DALCO, with over 20 years of experience at the company spanning software development, field engineering and infrastructure architecture. He leads the software department and is responsible for datacenter design, Linux system architecture and the technical oversight of large-scale projects. Combining deep hands-on expertise across hardware and software, Pascal oversees the development and delivery of high-performance computing solutions for DALCO’s most demanding
customer environments.
Mario Kugler leads DALCO’s production and integration organization, overseeing the assembly, testing and delivery of the company’s high-performance systems. He is responsible for ensuring that DALCO’s engineering designs are translated into reliable, high-quality infrastructure that meets the exacting standards of demanding computing environments. His focus on precision, operational excellence and quality assurance helps ensure every solution performs as intended from deployment onward.
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Our Story
A Story of Vision, Courage and Engineering
In 1995, at just 17 years old, Christian Dallmann founded DALCO, building custom computer systems for local businesses from his family’s garage. What began as a small business, driven by curiosity and a passion for technology, quickly grew into something much bigger.
Two years later, ETH Zurich issued a public tender for a new supercomputer a project typically awarded to established global technology companies. Recognizing an opportunity, Christian entered the tender with a different approach. Rather than proposing the largest or most expensive system, he engineered a solution tailored precisely to ETH Zurich’s requirements. That approach earned DALCO the contract and established a philosophy that continues to define the company today.
A Defining Achievement
Winning the contract was only the beginning.
With a small team and limited resources, DALCO had just sixteen weeks to design, build and deliver the system. Drawing on early partnerships with Intel, Samsung and Micron, the team successfully delivered ETH Zurich’s first Beowulf cluster. At the time, it became the fastest supercomputer in Europe and the second fastest in the world, exceeding performance expectations and establishing DALCO as one of Switzerland’s pioneers in High-Performance Computing.
The success of this project established long-term partnerships with leading technology companies and laid the foundation for DALCO’s continued growth in high-performance computing. More importantly, it established the philosophy that continues to guide DALCO today: engineering tailored computing solutions that maximize performance, efficiency and long-term value.
A Philosophy That Continues to Guide Us
That defining moment did more than establish DALCO’s reputation it shaped the
philosophy that continues to guide the company today.
We believe exceptional performance and efficiency begin with understanding each
customer’s unique requirements. Rather than adapting standard systems, we engineer
tailored computing solutions designed around the specific demands of every workload, delivering the optimal balance of performance, efficiency, reliability and long-term value.
Nearly three decades later, that philosophy remains unchanged. Every workstation, server, GPU platform, storage system and HPC cluster we build reflects the same commitment to precision, engineering excellence and customer-focused innovation that defined DALCO from the very beginning.
DALCO AG is a Swiss pioneer in custom-built computing solutions. For more than three decades, we have been designing and manufacturing cutting-edge IT infrastructure and High-Performance Computing (HPC) solutions for organizations with demanding computational requirements.Today, DALCO is trusted by research institutions, universities, healthcare organizations, engineering firms, financial institutions, government agencies and enterprises that rely on uncompromising performance, reliability and efficiency.
From high-performance workstations and GPU computing platforms to enterprise servers, storage solutions and large-scale HPC clusters, every system we build is purpose-engineered to meet the specific demands of its application.
Swiss Engineering
Every DALCO system is designed, assembled and tested by our specialists in Switzerland. From a single high-performance workstation to large-scale HPC clusters, every solution undergoes rigorous testing and quality assurance before deployment. Working closely with our customers throughout the entire process enables us to deliver systems that combine exceptional performance with the precision, reliability and craftsmanship that Swiss engineering is known for.
The DALCO Philosophy
At DALCO, we believe exceptional performance and efficiency begin with understanding our customers’ unique requirements. Every workload presents different challenges. That’s why we engineer tailored computing solutions designed around each customer’s exact requirements, delivering the optimal balance of performance, efficiency, reliability and long-term value. This philosophy has defined DALCO for more than two decades and continues to shape every system we build.
Innovation Through Partnership
Innovation has been at the heart of DALCO since the beginning. Our long-standing partnerships with NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Samsung, Micron, Supermicro, SK Hynix, IBM, Western Digital, Hitachi and Giga Computing provide us with early access to the latest technologies and engineering expertise. Combined with our own experience in designing high-performance computing systems, these partnerships enable us to deliver purpose-built solutions that remain at the forefront of innovation.
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WHY US
Technology never stands still and neither do we. From HPC to AI and GPU systems, we continuously explore new solutions to meet evolving challenges and deliver next-generation performance to our clients. At DALCO, support comes directly from the source. Every client gains immediate access to the same systems architects and HPC engineers who designed, built, and deployed their infrastructure. By bypassing standard helpdesk tiers, complex technical queries and critical issues are resolved with unmatched speed, accuracy, and deep system-level insight.
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Engineered to specification
Every system we design is scoped to the client's exact requirements. No standard configurations, no surplus components. Engineering starts from the brief outward, ensuring every element of the infrastructure serves a defined purpose and delivers measurable performance.
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Direct access to the engineers who built your system
At DALCO, support comes directly from the source. Every client gains immediate access to the same systems architects and HPC engineers who designed, built, and deployed their infrastructure. By bypassing standard helpdesk tiers, complex technical queries and critical issues are resolved with unmatched speed, accuracy, and deep system-level insight.
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Supply chain depth that delivers
Our long-term partnerships with the world's leading component manufacturers provide clients with pricing stability, component access and delivery continuity that the market rarely affords a systems integrator of our scale. That structural advantage is reflected in every project we undertake.
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Independent. Accountable. Swiss.
We remain privately held and founder-led. There are no corporate layers between the client and the people responsible for the work, producing relationships built on accountability rather than contract management and infrastructure we maintain with the same rigour we built it with.
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MISSION & VISION
To engineer the infrastructure that powers the discoveries, breakthroughs and innovations that move humanity forward guided by a commitment to engineering excellence, performance and precision.
A world where precision engineered computing infrastructure accelerates scientific discovery, enables technological breakthroughs and contributes to a better quality of life for people everywhere.
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Company Values
Innovation
At DALCO, progress drives everything we do. For nearly three decades, innovation has been central to our approach to computing infrastructure. From pioneering high performance computing clusters to delivering today’s AI and accelerated computing solutions, we continuously explore emerging technologies and collaborate closely with leading industry partners to help our customers stay at the forefront of innovation.
Quality
Quality is fundamental to everything we do. Every DALCO system is assembled, tested and validated in-house to ensure it performs exactly as intended. By combining meticulous engineering, rigorous quality control and proven components, we deliver infrastructure our customers can depend on when performance and reliability matter most.
Partnership
Long-term success is built on strong partnerships. We work closely with our customers to understand their objectives, challenges and technical requirements, combining open communication with technical expertise to develop solutions tailored to their needs. At the same time, our collaboration with leading technology companies such as NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Samsung, Micron, SK hynix, IBM, Western Digital, Hitachi, Giga Computing and Supermicro enables us to bring the latest advances in computing technology to our customers.
Sustainability
Sustainability is part of our long-term commitment. We are committed to responsible actions toward the environment and society. From reducing waste in our production processes to utilizing energy-efficient components, DALCO integrates sustainable practices throughout its operations. Our efforts contribute to reducing carbon footprint while delivering high-performance technology solutions that create lasting value for our customers.
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Milestones
DALCO Electronics is established in Zurich, entering the world of high-performance computing with a commitment to precision engineering and lean, specification-led delivery. We begin by building custom PC systems for local businesses, operating out of a garage with long-term supply agreements already in place with the world’s leading component manufacturers.
Foundation
1995
We enter a competitive tender with ETH Zurich and deliver a 384-processor Linux-based parallel computing cluster in 16 weeks, ahead of schedule and above specification. The system is ranked the fastest supercomputer in Europe and the second-fastest in the world, establishing our reputation in global HPC leadership at a stroke.
Europe’s fastest supercomputer
1997 – 1998
Evolving into DALCO AG, the company moved to a larger headquarters and expanded its infrastructure to match growing demand. Expansion into the medical technology sector followed, applying HPC to diagnostics and research. Recognized in 2001 and 2002 as one of Switzerland's top young entrepreneur success stories, these achievements validated the vision and impact behind our first decade.
Growth, recognition and new frontiers
2000 - 2002
Achieving a major international milestone, DALCO partnered with Porsche to power high-end simulations in automotive engineering. By 2005, operations expanded to engineering mission-critical monitoring systems for the Gotthard Base Tunnel, one of the largest and most technically demanding infrastructure projects in European history.
Automotive engineering and critical infrastructure
2002 – 2005
Accelerating into Formula 1, DALCO delivered CFD solutions for elite teams while expanding collaborations across the automotive industry. By 2008, entry into the aerospace sector brought advanced HPC solutions for Pilatus Aircraft alongside early-stage global AI exploration at scale, in collaboration with Jensen Huang and NVIDIA.
Formula 1, aerospace and the dawn of AI
2006 – 2008
Powering next-generation streaming infrastructure through projects for Walt Disney Research and Zattoo, we applied HPC to the demands of digital media at scale. By 2011, secure computing partnerships were established in government and defence, extending the same engineering rigour to mission-critical public sector environments.
Media, streaming and government sectors
2010 – 2011
Our HPC systems begin appearing consistently in the Top 500 list of the world’s most energy-efficient supercomputers, a ranking we maintain to this day. In 2014 we launch proprietary high-performance storage solutions, engineered in-house for speed and resilience to meet the demands of our most computationally intensive clients.
Top 500 recognition and proprietary storage
2012 – 2014
Pushing the boundaries of AI infrastructure once more, DALCO deploys next-generation NVIDIA-powered AI systems for clients operating at the frontier of machine learning and deep learning. Thirty years on from its founding, operations continue to build, deliver, and operate in the exact same manner as always: to specification, without compromise.
Next-generation AI and continued leadership
2018 – Today