About
Applied AI, built on 17 years of shipping
Data Subsystems is an applied-AI product studio. We design, build, and operate production software — and we've been shipping since 2008.
Our story
Data Subsystems, Inc. — a Florida corporation, originally Shortov Consulting, Inc. — was founded in 2008 by Alex Shortov. We began as an elite senior development team filling the gap between freelancers and big IT shops: enterprise-grade custom software, delivered quickly, at real value.
What changed is the work. We've gone from custom websites to shipping multi-tenant RAG platforms, an AI-content engine with its own scoring IP, a live ACH payments platform, and AI that reads engineering documents. The constant: we ship to production, and we keep it running.
Today we're an applied-AI product studio. We build production AI systems — and the modern web, commerce, and payments around them — for ambitious teams, and we build our own products alongside them.
Our team
A US company with US-based management in Clearwater, FL — and a senior engineering team that's worked together for 15+ years: applied-AI and full-stack engineers, architects, data and DevOps specialists, QA, and designers.
How we work
- Evidence over hype. We build AI that's grounded in your real data and cites its sources — no hallucinated answers.
- MVP fast, then harden. A working, qualitative MVP as early as possible, with CI/CD throughout.
- We operate what we build. Post-launch monitoring, support, and iteration — not just a handoff.
- Bank-grade habits everywhere. Security, testing, and disaster-recovery discipline carried from our fintech work into every project.
- Long-term partnership. Most of our clients stay for the next thing.
How to work with us
Two engagement models, one senior team.
Outsourcing
We deliver the project
Full-cycle delivery — architecture through build, QA, and long-term support. You get outcomes; we own the how.
Outstaffing
We join your team
Dedicated senior engineers embedded in your workflow — your standups, Slack, and sprint. 100% dedicated, no rotation.
Hire a Pod
A cross-functional pod
Engineering + QA/UX + Growth + AI in one combinable pod that owns your roadmap.
Explore Pods →Core technical skills
Our engineers combine modern programming expertise with solid systems knowledge.
This combination lets us design, deploy, and maintain AI agents that connect data, automate logic, and scale in production — backed by an internal AI Lab on AWS Bedrock where the team sharpens prompt engineering, agent design, and QA automation (demo-able during onboarding).
Let's build something that ships
Tell us what you're building. We'll tell you how we'd build it — and what it'll take.