We finally said goodbye to 2021 and welcomed in 2022 with open arms. As most of us are excited that the New Year is here, let’s not forget to take time and reflect on what we all accomplished in 2021. For LightEdge, we think of change, opportunity, and new beginnings when it comes to this past year, and we want to share our biggest moments with you. So, without further ado, help us celebrate as you read through our 2021 Year in Review.
Launched a New Brand
This year, we embarked on a journey to EMBRACE CHANGE. We said goodbye to our old theme and hello to a new, bold and edgy look. Our new brand symbolizes our innovation and relentless pursuit of solutions in an ever-changing digital landscape. Ultimately, our new look represents our long-term vision of turning any challenge into a new opportunity.
While we may appear to be different, we are still the same partner you can trust and we’ll continue to provide the unmatched customer service that we have been for the past 25 years. Are you ready for digital evolution? Join us as we take digital disruption head-on in 2022.
A new partnership – gi
The acquisition of LightEdge by GI Partners was announced on September 14th, 2021. GI Partners is a leading middle market private equity firm based in the United States. They were an early investor in data centers since its creation of Digital Realty through the consolidation of their portfolio of 21 stand-alone data center assets. Since their launch they have invested extensively in infrastructure companies and properties underpinning the digital economy.
We believe this new and exciting venture will support and fuel the growth of LightEdge from its existing position. As a company, we will be able to pivot more quickly and add services to meet the technology demands of our clients, expand services into new markets and employ and retain top talent to support our platforms and the clients we serve. We look forward to the opportunities and possibilities ahead with this partnership as we increase our commitment to innovation and continue to deliver best-in-class service.
Acquired New Employees & a Data Center
Not only did we grow organically, but we also grew by acquisition. Cavern Technologies was the first acquisition under our new ownership by GI Partners. This acquisition gave us the pleasure of welcoming in 12 fantastic employees and an underground data center that is in Lenexa, Kansas.
This unlocked numerous opportunities for us and further expands our footprint in Kansas City.
Welcomed 52 New Faces to the LightEdge Family
Welcoming a new employee is more than making a company announcement and filling out forms. It means that you are creating the process to give the new employee the best possibility of integrating successfully into a company, and we believe our HR team did just that.
We pride ourselves on hiring top talent and since the beginning of 2021, we have been pleased to welcome 52 new faces to the LightEdge team. We have filled positions in Marketing, Sales, Accounting, Technicians and many more. Because many people are working remotely because of the pandemic, the HR team has made it a priority to create virtual growth and learning opportunities for new employees. Throughout the onboarding process, they have also provided new staff members with creative ways to meet their coworkers. We believe they nailed the transition to a digital hiring and training process.
If you’re interested in working for LightEdge, head over to our career page to check out open positions.
Successfully Renewed our Compliance Certifications
As many of you know, compliance can be a headache, especially during the end of the year when you must renew your certifications. This year, we successfully renewed our compliance certifications and continued to provide our customers a consistent compliance standard across all our facilities.
Don’t worry though, we’ll continue our commitment to compliance and security excellence in 2022 by undergoing audits to earn certifications in CMMC, CJIS and ITAR. If any of this interest you, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Celebrated lightedge’s 25th anniversary
This year, we hit a major milestone and celebrated 25 years in business. It all started in 1996 when LightEdge was founded as the Midwest’s premier ISP out of Des Moines, Iowa. After nearly two decades of expanding our routes in the network space, we finally entered the world of colocation and cloud services. It has been a long journey of mostly ups than downs but it has all been worth it in the end.
In these 25 years, we were able to empower new clients, renew complex certificates, and connect with our customers and with one another. Every day, we are more grateful for our wonderful team, and our beloved customers, as we face new difficulties and celebrate new victories on our journey. We are excited to see what the next decade holds for us and our clients.
Celebrated Lightedge’s annual Christmas party
A company holiday party is a great way to brighten up the cold winter months, give employees a break from stress, bring coworkers together and get everyone into the holiday spirit. Each year we host a LightEdge Christmas party in each of our markets.
In 2020, we unfortunately had to postpone due to the pandemic. This year, we got to celebrate with one another in-person! It was wonderful to finally meet some coworkers face-to-face, enjoy some great food and even win some big raffle prizes. Thank you LightEdge HR for putting all of this together and a lot of us are already looking forward to 2022 LightEdge Christmas party.
Nominated for Three Awards
Every year the Technology Association of Iowa (TAI) hosts the Prometheus Awards which unites innovators and leaders from technology, business, education and government to celebrate the year’s most momentous achievements. LightEdge has been nominated for numerous awards every year and in 2019, CEO, Jim Masterson, took home CEO of the Year.
This year, LightEdge was nominated for CISO of the Year, Best Company Culture and IT Service Provider of the Year. The competition was top-notch and we were going head-to-head with our friends from Kum & Go and Principal.
LightEdge has been proud supporters of TAI for quite some time now and with this partnership, we have met more organizations that share the same passion for technology as we do. We look forward to next year’s award and being back together face-to-face.
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Bring on 2022
Thanks for reading along and celebrating with us. As you can tell, 2021 was full of milestones for the us and has been one of our successful years yet. We cannot wait to see what 2022 has in store for us and our customers. But, as they say, the best is yet to come!
To learn more about what LightEdge does or to get a tour of our world-class data centers, reach out and let’s chat. Our Colocation and Cloud experts are always available to take your call.
