CHEYENNE - A Cheyenne-based company, Limelight Technologies, Inc., has received a $5,000 grant to help obtain federal funding to take their software idea and develop it into a marketable product.

The Wyoming Business Council sponsors the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 0 Program. The program provides $5,000 grants to Wyoming companies to help them develop competitive proposals for the federal SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Under these programs, Wyoming businesses have the potential to receive up to $850,000 to develop their products through a two-stage process.

Limelight will use the award to develop a software solution for real time reporting of infectious diseases by hospitals, laboratories and health clinics for bio-terrorism surveillance. The application will be submitted to the National Institutes of Health's Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).

Limelight Technologies moved to Cheyenne from Colorado last year. As an emerging technology company, Limelight has a successful track record of providing product solutions in the public health market and IT services for state government agencies in Washington, California, Arkansas, Illinois, Arizona, Wyoming and Pennsylvania over the last six years.

Limelight's private sector clients include: Hewlett Packard, Morgan Stanley-Dean Witter, Price Waterhouse Coopers, K-Mart, Rational Corporation, QWest, John Deere and Kone. For more information about Limelight Technologies, please visit their Web site at www.limelighttechnologies.com.

More Wyoming companies are looking to the SBIR Phase 0 program for help. Wyoming tied for third among all the states in total number of 2004 Phase I USDA SBIR awards (5). Only California (12) and Virginia (6) had more. And most impressively, Wyoming ran away with top honors on a per capita basis with one award per 100,000 population, seven times more than second place Oregon and 30 times more than the national average.The SBIR Phase 0 program is a project of the Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative. The initiative is funded by the Wyoming Business Council and administered by the University of Wyoming Vice-President for Research. For more information, visit www.uwyo.edu/sbir/
For more information on the Wyoming Business Council, please visit www.wyomingbusiness.org.

 

Limelight Technologies moves to Cheyenne

Aug. 20, 2003

CHEYENNE-Limelight Technologies®, a five-year-old information technology (IT) development and consulting company located in Fort Collins, Colo., announced plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to Cheyenne later this year. Cheyenne LEADS Vice President Pete Illoway announced the company's plans Aug. 19 at the LEADS Invitational Golf Tournament dinner.

Limelight Technologies employs 15 people in the Colorado facility and specializes in database and application development. The company also provides hosting, integration, GIS (geographic information systems), e-commerce, ERP (enterprise resource planning), security, and multimedia, video and visual-design services.

CEO John Brady said that since 95 percent of Limelight's clients are located outside of Colorado, they were considering consolidation by moving to the company's Tacoma branch. However, Brady said many opportunities opened in Wyoming. "I've never worked in a community where the people were so friendly and so pro-business," he said. "There are so many bright, talented professionals to work with in Cheyenne that can support our business. Cheyenne is a boom town of opportunity!"

Initially, Brady began investigating business opportunities in Wyoming by meeting with Cheyenne LEADS (The Cheyenne-Laramie County Corporation for Economic Development) and the Wyoming Business Council. Over the past 6 months, Brady says these organizations have provided Limelight with outstanding mentoring and support services, providing information and making introductions to Cheyenne-area realtors, bankers, lawyers, accountants, etc.

"In addition to providing the latest information technology services, Limelight will also bring jobs and other economic stimulus to the local economy," Limelight President Cecil Samuel said. "We are bringing15 people with us to Cheyenne and are planning to create more jobs as the business expands." Limelight plans to reincorporate in Wyoming, establish an office in Cheyenne and become a contributor to the local economy by creating new, well-paying IT jobs. Brady said the company plans to hire University of Wyoming graduates and interns and participate in community activities.

Brady added, "We won't be just providing IT work to Wyoming organizations-we will also be servicing other states and doing the work in Wyoming."

In the past five years, Limelight has accomplished IT and consulting projects totaling about $10 million, and its staff brings more than 25 years of combined government-procurement and project-execution experience to the Cheyenne area. Recently, the company was recognized with a first-place 2003 APEX Reinvention Award, which is awarded a company that has either faced extraordinary business-health challenges and returned stronger than ever or made a substantial, advantageous business adjustment by identifying a dramatic shift in its market environment.