Clay Claiborne, the president and founder of Cosmos Engineering Company first cut his teeth on computers while an electrical engineering student at Washington University, St. Louis in the late ‘60’s. In 1984 he started Cosmos Engineering Company as a microcomputer sales and service organization in Los Angeles. As a Novell Netware reseller since 1988 and a Microsoft OEM Provider, the main stay of the business was building and servicing computer systems and networks for small business and corporate clients in southern California. At the same time Mr. Claiborne developed and marketed a number of innovative products including the Cub Reporter, a computer interface for electric typewriters, and Fax-On-File one of the very earliest fax back systems.

In 1995, Mr. Claiborne started to work with Linux and immediately saw it’s potential. In early 1996 he made the bold decision to focus his company’s efforts on the emerging Linux market. By the end of 1996 he had invented, produced and was selling ‘Linux On A Disk’ a first of it kind product that InfoWorld called “the most phenomenal Linux offering on the market” (p78, 12/30/96). He established close relationships with Red Hat Software when that company had less than twenty employees. That same year became a Caldera Business Partner and founded Linux Users Los Angeles (LULA). Today, Mr. Claiborne continues to service as the president of LULA while its membership has mushroomed to 165 members. In 1997 Mr. Claiborne was a member of the working group that Red Hat assemble to develop partnership and certification program. That same year Cosmos Engineering became one of the founding members of The Red Hat Hardware Partners Program, long before Dell Computers and other better known names joined this exclusive group. Today Cosmos Engineering Company remains the only RHHP within 200 miles of Los Angeles.