This is an episode of HawkTalk, datacenterHawk’s series of candid one on one conversations with executives and leaders in the data center industry. If you enjoyed this episode, you can check them all out on our blog. If you’d like to know when we release future episodes, you can subscribe here.

LightEdge began their journey in the data center industry after starting out as an internet service provider and then out of necessity building and operating their own colocation facility. Since then they have become a data center provider with multiple facilities across the US that focus on compliance.

If you’re short on time, check out a few of our quick takeaways below.

LightEdge’s entrance into the data center industry

LightEdge started out as an ISP, but built their first data center in Des Moines, Iowa out of necessity after they deployed their first cloud platform. They partnered with a construction company and built a data center because at that time the idea of a colocation facility had yet to become as wide spread as it is today.

Growth into the Kansas City market

LightEdge had maxed out the first facility they built with 4-5 years, so they decided to expand into Kansas City with another building. LightEdge got connected with Lamar Hunt and his family, who committed to filling 800,000 SF of data center space if they were to build a Kansas City facility. With that commitment, LightEdge began construction of their 2nd data center which is located inside of a limestone mine that is owned by the Hunt family.

Acquiring a third facility in Omaha

After building facilities in Des Moines and Kansas City, LightEdge looked to add a 3rd facility to their profile and wanted it to be near their already existing data centers. After surveying options, they settled on building in Omaha because that location would give them a good triangulation between their other two data centers and offer similar hazard risk as their other facilities.