A Look Back at Lightedge’s Biggest 2018 Milestones
December 21, 2018
Lightedge
Author
As 2018 comes to an end, Lightedge wanted to take this opportunity to look back and reflect on the major accomplishments that this year has brought. This past year came with many positive changes for our company. As we close the book on 2018 and gear up for the new year, we’d like to take this time and share with you a few things we were grateful for this past year.
Here is a look back at the past year’s major milestones:
New Lightedge Headquarters
In May, Lightedge moved into our brand-new Des Moines, Iowa headquarters. The new layout provides a collaborative space for our employees to work and innovate. Each of our new meeting rooms has been named after one of our many core values. Seeing these values each day, acts as a reminder to the team as we work towards our unified goals.
Our new office includes a large break room that is perfect for internal and external company gatherings. Maintaining a fun and positive company culture that is heavily integrated with the community is one of our top priorities at Lightedge. This new common space has allowed us to connect with our peers and local partners in a fun, relationship-building manner. It very much reflects one of our core company values, “Work Hard. Play Hard.” Our new address is at 909 Locust Street, Suite 301, Des Moines, IA 50309 in the heart of downtown.
Refreshed Customer Portal
In June, Lightedge launched a new version of the MyLightedge portal to improve our customers’ user experience with the platform. The new portal is now mobile-friendly and gives customers more functionality to explore. The entire experience and design on any device became much more seamless and intuitive. Here are the high-level improvements Lightedge customers now enjoy within the portal:
- Mobile-friendly interface and ticket submission
- Updated design layout
- Better custom views and organization permissions
Be sure to keep an eye out for future updates to the MyLightedge customer portal in early 2019. We are always looking for ways to improve and innovate our client experience.
At Lightedge, we strive to provide you with the best working technology, meaning a better avenue to view your service information and communicate with our support team. All customer feedback is read and reviewed by not only our development team, but our Vice President of Operations, as well. Your voice is always heard and appreciated. If you would like to contact one of our support experts, you can do so here.
Acquiring OnRamp
One of the biggest milestones in Lightedge history occurred this year. That was the acquisition of compliant cloud provider, OnRamp. In July, Lightedge decided to expand its geographical reach and redundancy, while investing further into the company’s world-class compliant cloud and colocation solutions as it acquired the Austin, Texas-based company, OnRamp.
The two companies had extremely similar backgrounds across the board, so it was a no-brainer for Lightedge to combine these teams into one powerhouse company. In addition to gaining three new data center facilities across Austin, TX and Raleigh, NC, Lightedge gained industry experts as the company grew to over 200 employees.
There were many reasons that Lightedge decided to acquire OnRamp. With the emergence of the IT cloud paradigm, many mid-sized enterprises are trying to get out of the hardware business. They are seeking trusted partners that specialize in providing compliant infrastructure to meet increasing audit standards, enhance data security, and minimize business risk or downtime. This acquisition presented the perfect opportunity for Lightedge to expand and serve the national demand.
“This combining of forces elevates the strategic vision we have been successfully executing for the past decade. OnRamp brings a tremendous group of skilled experts, HITRUST-certified data center facilities, and a proficiency in delivering leading compliance and security solutions that make them a natural fit with Lightedge,” said Jim Masterson, Chief Executive Officer at Lightedge.
The acquisition expanded Lightedge’s team to both the Austin, TX and Raleigh, NC areas. This acquisition also puts Lightedge on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) power grid, in addition to their presence on the Eastern grid. This dual-coverage and increased reliability will offer more value and flexibility for Lightedge customers.
OnRamp’s Transition and Brand Retirement
Lightedge now operates seven compliant data centers across the country. At the end of this year, OnRamp’s brand will be absorbed into Lightedge, and the two companies will officially become one under the Lightedge name. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when you come back to work after the new year:
- The OnRamp website will be going away on December 27th, 2018. To access our company news, events calendar, partner resources, product offerings, customer support & client portals, and educational resources, visit lightedge.com. All of the resources you have grown accustomed to on the OnRamp site are being redirected to Lightedge’s.
- The OnRamp customer portal is currently and will continue to be hosted on the homepage of the Lightedge website Once we officially redirect the OnRamp website over, that will be the only place to access it.
- The OnRamp brand name will be phasing out in January 2019, and will be replaced with Lightedge as we officially combine the teams and company.
Continued Investment in the Midwest
With the expansion into new markets across the country, Lightedge has continued to deepen our investment and commitment into each of the Midwest communities that we call home. In doing so, we’ve remained active members in over 25 different organizations throughout Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas City, and Austin, plus the personal membership that many of our active staff members hold. We’ve also continued to increase our involvement in different charities and local non-profits, especially those that put a special emphasis on children and their families. Lightedge recently participated in the Festival of Trees and Lights benefiting Blank Children’s Hospital in Iowa this month in Des Moines, IA. We were also the presenting sponsor of this year’s Junior Achievement Bowl-A-Thon empowering every child in Central Iowa through business and economic education.
We’ve also gained numerous new strategic partners including Open Pro, Baer Consulting, and Next Generation Software, Inc. We provide our partners with the tools necessary to build a lucrative referral and/or reseller stream that incents you and your customers for doing business with Lightedge. We work closely with every partner to develop a personalized plan for success. If you are interested in becoming a Lightedge partner in the new year, contact our partner team here.
Take a look back at some of the specific milestones that we have made in our different Midwest markets this year:
Expanding our Underground Kansas City Data Center
In September, Lightedge announced that we were expanding our Kansas City data center facility in the SubTropolis Technology Center to accommodate new and existing customer needs. Construction on the 20,000 square foot expansion began back in September. Of this latest expansion, 13,000 square feet will be dedicated to white floor space with additional power to support it.
Future phases with our partner, Hunt Midwest, are nearly unlimited with over 2,000,000 sq. ft of mission critical growth potential in the world’s largest underground business complex. Due to high demand for colocation and private suite space, Lightedge has no plans of slowing capacity – with the means to add 10,000 sq. ft build-outs in 6-month timeframes going forward.
Delivering on our promise of choice and flexible migration paths, Lightedge’s facilities offer customers a Hybrid Solution Center model surrounded by security and compliance with access to multiple carriers and cloud interconnects. Offerings include pure colocation services for those that prefer to own and manage their own equipment, or the options to integrate local Lightedge compliant cloud services, as well as, public cloud services through private high-speed interconnects. Lightedge currently owns and operates seven data centers across Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Austin, TX, Raleigh, NC, and Kansas City, MO that are all concurrently maintainable to Tier III standards and interconnected by a private, high-speed fiber backbone.
Expanding our Omaha Data Center
Following the announcement of the Kansas City data center expansion, the Omaha team also declared plans to expand their facility that opened earlier in the year. Lightedge is breaking ground on the next phase of development to increase our white floor space and power capacity. This phase prepared the site for Phase 3 development where the facility will be expanded to house 30,000 square feet of white floor space and 3.0 MW of power.
Construction will be completed in 2019. True to Lightedge’s model, all of our data centers are highly connected Hybrid Solution Centers where clients can integrate customer-owned computing platforms with Lightedge Compliant Cloud Services, along with direct private connections to public clouds.
Anschutz Investment Company
In 2008 Lightedge was purchased by the Anschutz Investment Company. This group is known for owning the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and Regal Entertainment Group, along with the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Qwest Communications, and the LA Kings.
The founder, Phil Anschutz, has built fortunes in oil, railroads, telecom, real estate and entertainment over the past five decades. He is also known for his charitable contributions into organizations and universities around the globe. Lightedge was the first technology company that the Anschutz Investment Group owned and financially backed, and that’s a strong seal of approval and support we are proud to boast.
The expansion of data centers, growing company and acquisition of OnRamp would not be possible with the strong financial backing and guidance of Anschutz Investment Company.
Core2Cloud Technology Consulting Group
In August, Lightedge’s Professional Services team officially branched out to form a separate entity. For several years, many of the team members making up Core2Cloud were a part of the Lightedge Solutions family. Acting as trusted advisors for hundreds of customers over their tenure at Lightedge, the consulting team accelerated the deployment and management of technology infrastructure for corporations across the US.
Core2Cloud is comprised of some of the leading technology consultants in the area. Each member of the team has deep expertise working with industries ranging from banking to manufacturing to healthcare, and beyond. They also bring an extensive client portfolio of successful cloud migrations and implementations for some of the region’s top corporations. They have been and will continue to be a very valued partner to Lightedge.
To learn more about Core2Cloud and their offerings, visit their website.
Defined Compliance Commitment for Another Consecutive Year
In October, Lightedge announced that successful renewal of their 2018 compliance audits. Lightedge remains ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 20000-1, SSAE 18 SOC 1 Type II, SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3, HIPAA/HITECH, HITRUST, and PCI DSS compliant.
Lightedge continues to be audited against the highest standards to ensure that our customer’s critical infrastructure remains secure and compliant. Lightedge’s highly-trained compliance and security experts take the guesswork out of keeping your business protected. Customers trust our expertise to ensure you are covered through our security and compliance services, including risk management, information security, audit preparedness and support.
“Successfully completing each of these compliance audits for another year in a row continues to set us apart from the competition. It demonstrates to our customers and future clients, that we are at the forefront of IT governance best practices,” said Jake Gibson, Lightedge’s Chief Security Officer and Chief Compliance Officer.
Lightedge is also raising the bar on security & compliance professional services by offering up free access to our Chief Security & Compliance Officer, Jake Gibson. He has been a tremendous resource to meet with clients to evaluate their existing security standards, offer up best practices for improvement, and ensure audit readiness through his proven experience. This is just one piece of the puzzle to achieving trusted advisor status with each of our customers.
New Lightedge Website
In November of this year, Lightedge also rolled out a brand-new website. It was many months in the making, and we couldn’t be prouder of the end result. It is mobile-friendly with an easy-to-navigate menu and improved functionality. All of our combined services and data center facilities post-acquisition of OnRamp are clearly laid out by the benefits they provide to our customers.
We’ve also added more educational resources to our site, and have even more coming next week! Please keep an eye out for the new whitepapers, case studies, infographics, and e-books we will be publishing into the new year.
The other major improvement to call out on our new site is the addition of “contact us” and “learn more” buttons on every single page. It is now easier than ever to reach out to our team of experts to talk through any questions you may have or get pointed at the right educational resources to assist in your decision-making process.
We didn’t forget about our partners either. We have added a partner program page with a quick “Apply Now” button to sign up and engage our team. It also features training and benefit resources for current and potential partners. Stay tuned on our full partner portal coming in early 2019.
Where Lightedge is Today
Today, Lightedge owns and operates seven data centers across Des Moines, IA, Kansas City, MO, Omaha, NE, Austin, TX, and Raleigh, NC. We specialize in secure and compliant cloud and colocation.
With over 20 years in business, Lightedge offers a full stack of best-in-class IT services to provide flexibility, security, and control for any stage of a customers’ technology roadmap. Our solutions include premier colocation across seven purpose-built data centers, industry-leading private Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and cloud platforms, and the top global security and compliance measures.
With our newly combined team, Lightedge employees over 200 people across the country. If you’d like to become a part of the growing Lightedge team, apply for one of our open positions here.
2018 has been one of the best years yet for Lightedge as a company. We cannot wait to see what 2019 has instore for our team, our customers, and our partners.
To learn more about what Lightedge does, or to get a tour of one of our world-class data centers, contact us here. Our compliance, cloud and colocation experts are always available and ready to take your call.
