GDT Opens Dallas AI Testing Lab for Businesses Weighing Equipment Purchases

Dallas IT services provider GDT has opened an AI lab where businesses can run tests on AI workloads before buying production equipment. The company says the lab gives customers a place to develop, run, fine-tune and compare generative AI and large language models. It also supports work on AI agents, copilots, computer vision and retrieval-augmented generation. GDT describes itself as one of a handful of IT services companies offering a production-grade environment for such testing.

The lab's infrastructure includes a Cisco server with eight Nvidia H200 graphics processing units, six Cisco Nexus switches, and a NetApp all-flash data storage system. NetApp network connections deliver speeds of 100, 200 and 400 gigabits per second. The equipment sits on a server rack weighing about 900 pounds. Chris Kapusta, GDT's vice president of advisory and transformation, said the setup can read all of the Library of Congress' digital materials in about half a second.

GDT was founded in 1996 and employs about 900 people worldwide. In September, privately held GDT agreed to be acquired by Softcat, a publicly traded UK-based IT infrastructure provider, in a deal valued at $1.05 billion. Kapusta said GDT will continue to operate from its Dallas headquarters under the same name and leadership team after the deal closes.

The lab is run by GDT's AI Factory Center of Excellence. One GDT customer is using it to evaluate a digital human avatar for transcription and translation before a production decision, Kapusta said. In a statement, GDT chairman and CEO Shawn O'Grady said customers face pressure to support AI deployment while balancing security, governance and token cost management.

GDT held an open house at its Dallas headquarters Oct. 22, where attendees watched AI demonstrations and put questions to GDT executives. The company says businesses that test in the lab can determine the production infrastructure, equipment and architecture needed for AI workloads. The lab can also inform decisions about software and related services.

The Softcat acquisition is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2027.