“Outcomes are defined differently by different customers, too. Some may want to deliver capacity faster. Some may want to deliver more capacity on a schedule. Some may want to shrink their footprint or integrate an acquisition. Some may want to reduce their power consumption. or open a new market ahead of their competition,” Jonas added. “The outcome is based on a business dialogue with that customer about what it is that they define as success and truly understanding their needs both now and in the future. It ultimately manifests itself in high-capacity networks, but it’s really a result of our people and the strength of our customer relationships.” The value LightRiver places on its people and customers is more than hypothetical; it’s a tangible methodology embraced by the company and imbued throughout its culture, which they have been honing and putting into practice for nearly 30 years.

Tying Culture to Trust and Innovation

LightRiver has built a culture of trusted customer collaborations based on a methodology it calls TIES (see Figure 1). TIES is an acronym representing four foundational pillars supporting the company’s mission: Trust, Innovation, Engineering, and Service. TIES and trust begin with the human element. 

“LightRiver’s success comes from our ability to select the best talent with the right state of mind, to genuinely partner with our customers,” added Jonas. “Our people are our superpower. It’s about creating a customer-orientated culture that’s focused on outcomes that make our customers successful, not just checking off boxes in a SOW.”

Figure 1 - LightRiver's Vision and TIES Methodology
click to enlarge

For LightRiver, this begins by recruiting and retaining the best talent from some of the top engineering schools in the country, including the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, the University of California, and the University of Texas. Jonas cites “passion and grit” as some of the more abstract qualifications they look for in a candidate, but it’s also about tangible ability.  Candidates often need to demonstrate their ability hands-on in a lab environment, and it ensures every candidate fits their customer-oriented culture through a cross-departmental interview process. After hiring, LightRiver encourages and provides ongoing training and certification through its ACE program, which extends across every department and to the executive level.

“We want to facilitate our people’s curiosity and passion for learning,” commented Jonas. “Sometimes someone wants to learn more about a technology, someone in sales will want to learn about finance, or someone in finance will want to learn about marketing.  You never know what tomorrow will bring, so we provide the tools and programs so they can keep learning.”

LightRiver puts people under the first pillar of its TIES program: Trust. But it’s only by arming the right people with the best technology can they succeed in their mission to create the world’s best networks. The company’s cutting-edge products and technology fall under the second pillar, Innovation.  

LightRiver’s NetFLEX product jumpstarts network optimization with automatic network discovery that combines network inventory data with live network information by communicating directly with network devices in their native language. LightRiver’s