FIRSTLINK
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Our Mission & Vision

Our mission, as your technology partner, is to help you achieve your mission.
Our goal is to help re-imagine what the web can do for your business.
Our vision is simple: make technology an asset for your business, not a burden.

FirstLink's Beginnings

Becoming FirstLink Technology

First Link Consulting originated in 1994 as a network consulting company, owned and operated by Jeff Nieusma in Boulder, CO. The mission was assisting clients in securing and maintaining their burgeoning TCP/IP network infrastructures. First Link Consulting additionally managed UNIX environments for multiple companies; utilizing the Solaris operating systems.

In 1995, Jeff and Amy Luinstra founded Denver Online to assist the people of the Denver Metro area with localized information about businesses and real estate. In 1996, Denver Online’s mission switched to include providing local IP connectivity and business grade hosting services.

These two companies met through being founding members of the Colorado Internet Cooperative Association and worked together throughout the late 1990’s to deliver best of breed connectivity and hosting solutions to clients worldwide.

In 2000, Denver Online merged with First Link Consulting to form First Link Technology, Inc. We purchased the data center facility in Southeast Denver, CO. This set the path to offer scalable and reliable hosting, co-location and managed services for infrastructure, software and applications for our clients.

 

Re-(Re-Re-)Inventing

For the next 20+ years, FirstLink Technology has been chasing the newest and best technology to provide a unique and topline service offering to our clients. Here are just a few of the enhancements to our products and services over the years:

 

1996 - 2000 Early Years

  • 1996 – Regional dial-up and broadband access provider
  • 1996 – Linux and Microsoft hosting solutions introduced
  • 1997 – Regional DSL provider
  • 1998 – JAVA hosting and Oracle database hosting solutions added
  • 1998 – Website development added to service offerings
  • 1999 – Updated network routing to Cisco Systems
  • 2000 – Moved into Southeast Denver data center providing DS-1 -> DS-3 IP connectivity and co-location services

2001 - 2015 Building Up

  • 2002 – FirstLink Technology standardizes on Super Micro hardware for hosting infrastructure
  • 2004 – Exiting residential IP access business
  • 2005 – FirstLink launches e-whiteboard, our first templated website solution
  • 2006 – IT managed support services added to service offering
  • 2008 – FirstLink formally embraces the opensource movement with the adoption of our Linux hosting environment and ZFS file system.
  • 2009 – VPS (virtual private server) hosting offered using jailed BSD servers.
  • 2010 – Official hosting partner for EMS software
  • 2012 – Deployed FirstLink Technology’s cloud hosting service utilizing VM Ware as the virtualization platform
  • 2013 – Launched private network access to our cloud hosting environment using layer 2 connectivity. Using Lumen, Hurrican Electric and Cogent for endpoint termination.
  • 2015 – FirstLink upgrades to the enterprise VM Ware platform offering more resiliency within our cloud hosting services

2016 and Beyond

  • 2016 – FirstLink Technology offers all hosting customers website and application security by deploying web application firewalls within the cloud hosting environment
  • 2017 – FirstLink launches our web client portal for billing, services and account management
  • 2018 – Digital marketing services added to service offerings
  • 2018 – FirstLink becomes a SOC2 compliant company with compliant hosting infrastructure and processes – yearly audits continue to this day
  • 2019 – FirstLink evolves e-whiteboard into FirstTheme, our website templates for specific industries based upon the WordPress content management system
  • 2021 – Upgraded network routing to Juniper Networks that includes network protection
  • 2021 – Added an additional Denver data center @ 910 15th Street (Denver Gas and Electric Building) – premier carrier facility in the Rocky Mountain region
  • 2022 – Plans for adding an additional geo-region for our cloud hosting
  • 2022 – Plans for incorporating a client dashboard for cloud hosting management

Rest assured, FirstLink Technology has the right combination to satisfy your needs with our combined hosting, web management and technology support services. Our many years of experience with many different kinds of technical solutions and partnering with many different kinds of organizations gives us the depth and breadth to provide a high quality and personalized experience.

Team Culture

We Are Better Together

How we work together is just as important as what we do. Our core values are the principles that bind us together and help us create the best possible outcome for our clients.

  • Respect for each other and who we serve is most important
  • Failure is a way to learn and improve
  • Relationships are more important than who is right
  • Create transparency through trust
  • Embrace challenges as fun new adventures
  • Personal growth comes from taking calculated risk
  • Valuing what make us different brings success

At FirstLink, we love to come to work every day because we enjoy who we work with, we are content with what we do and we are excited to make our clients happy.

Google Reviews

PDUSA

Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness

5stars
PDUSA, Inc. has used FirstLink Technology for over 25 years. They share all of their wisdom that they get from working with other clients.
We all benefit. Good company to work with. They have your back.

Daniel Robinson

Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness, Value

5stars
I could not have asked for a better experience. I worked with First Link’s superior team of IT professionals to migrate from an previous data center to First Link Data Center. First Link displayed a high level of professionalism and skillsets.

Jim Veldkamp

Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness, Value

5stars
We were very pleased with the website update that FirstLink did for us. Jeff, Julie, and the rest of the team walked us through every step of the process. They did the heavy lifting and made sure we were happy with the results. Five stars!!

Western Trading Co.

Professionalism

5stars
We’ve been with First Link for ages. They successfully accomplish projects in a timely, cost effective manner. We highly recommend them.

Grant Wade

Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness

5stars
FirstLink has been great to work with, Jeff and Wayne have always been very responsive, professional and willing to tackle any project I through at them no matter how crazy it is. I’m very impressed by their efficient response to our ever changing needs and growth, here in Colorado or out of state at our other locations the FirstlLink team steps up and knocks the ball out of the park every time!

Phil Mazarakis

Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness, Value

5stars
FirstLink has provided my organization with 10+ years of great quality service. Extremely responsive, they were always available to assist when needed. Invaluable with upgrades. What a great team!