LCS (LightEdge Consulting Services) to bridge the gap between premises-based solutions and hosted business IT services for small and medium-sized businesses

DES MOINES, IA, February 24, 2009 – LightEdge, the leading hosted services partner dedicated to the full breadth of communications and IT needs for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), today announced the formation of LightEdge Consulting Services (LCS), an independently operated consulting subsidiary designed to expand LightEdge’s hosted delivery model to include premises-based solutions, architecture design and implementation. LCS will offer a wide range of business IT consulting services including: discovery/design recommendations, solutions architecture, server maintenance, patch management, backup solutions and virtualization through Hyper-V and VMware. The company can also provide proficiencies and platform design for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office Communication Server, Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft SQL implementations and migrations.

The company was formed to provide small and medium-sized businesses accessibility to consultants with a broad base of IT experience. Many businesses have concerns related to their business technology but are unsure of the solutions available and their relative costs and benefits. LCS is in a unique position not only to engage and determine the root cause of these issues, but to provide a clear and cost-effective recommendation for a solution, based on their experience with on-premises solutions for SMB and enterprise businesses, as well as hosted solutions through LightEdge. Once the solution is defined, LCS can step back to an advisory position or implement the solution entirely, including on-going maintenance.

“The opportunity to discuss business needs and potential solutions with someone who is knowledgeable with both traditional office-based solutions and hosted business services is a game-changer for business owners as it gives them access to a wide variety of viable options,” said Jeff Springborn, president and COO of LightEdge. “LCS is an interesting concept in consulting because it is highly personalized for the customer and ultimately delivers the best solution for their needs, whether that is an on-premises solution, a hosted service or a combination of both.”

In recent years, server technology has become more complicated and, as such, requires increased specialization to implement and maintain it. The latest version of Microsoft Exchange Server (2007) includes 5 separate server roles, requiring a platform spanning multiple servers. This level of sophistication has created an additional need in the market for qualified and experienced IT consultants.

“Through our experience working with Fortune 500 companies, small and medium-sized businesses and our understanding of large-scale hosted environments, we have developed ‘best practices’ that can we leverage for our customers to create high reliability platforms,” said John Jarrell, Director of Operations for LCS. “As an adjunct part of a company’s IT staff, LCS can reduce costs and improve efficiency by completing projects that require specialized knowledge and experience.”

LCS operates nationally but will focus its efforts in the upper Midwest: Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Illinois.

About LCS
LightEdge Consulting Services (LCS) is uniquely positioned as the only communications and IT consultant with the vision and knowledge to bridge the gap between premises-based and hosted technology environments. The company’s experience with Fortune-500, SMB and hosted environments provides the insight necessary to develop “best practice” solutions for its customers. For more information, visit www.lightedgeconsulting.com.

About LightEdge
LightEdge is the only hosted services partner fully dedicated to providing a full breadth of communications and IT services to small and medium-sized businesses looking for a better way to focus on their core business, not the technology that supports it. For more information, visit www.lightedge.com.

LightEdge®, the LightEdge logo and Scale-on-Demand™ are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of LightEdge Solutions, Inc.