On 11 April 1997, what had been a dream of mine for many years finally came to fruition: Locus Technologies officially opened its doors. The company was founded with the mission to use strong scientific principles and domain experience to help customers minimize their environmental liability. Officially starting as a consulting-based company, we soon after began directing our focus toward environmental information management software, as the future need for these tools became more and more apparent.

This realization, which turned out to be ahead of the curve forecasting, led to Locus’ flagship product, EIM, being launched in 1999. This web-based SaaS application for managing analytical data was a first for the environmental industry. Soon after its release EIM was already handling millions of analytical records for hundreds of sites worldwide.

In 2001 ePortal was born; the comprehensive Cloud-based platform built to manage all forms of environmental data, whether it be air, water, energy, compliance, or sustainability information. Since that day ePortal has been continuously evolving and improving, and we at Locus have been building up our domain expertise with each new customer, and each new requirement or goal that our software helps them reach.

From the beginning, the main goal at Locus was to thrive in this industry by successfully adapting to change. I am happy to report that for the past 16 years Locus has consistently accomplished this, and therefore managed to remain an innovator in the field of environmental information management. As the company enters its seventeenth year of operation, I would like to share a few brief highlights of its recent accomplishments.

Locus has received the Environmental Business Journal’s award for Information Technology in the environmental and energy industry for seven years in a row; opened up an office in Asheville, NC specifically for GIS R&D and later turned it into an EIM product management center; became both SOC 1 (SSAE-16) and SOC 2 certified to be able to assure both existing and potential customers that we have the proper controls in place to manage their data securely; and continued to expand our customer base with some of the largest companies in industries such as food, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and the DOE.

Over the last decade many others have grown interested about, and attempted to break into this space; most of which are no longer around. While our products and individual applications have changed, our idea and vision has not. We have stayed the course that earned us contracts with many Fortune 100 companies. We intend to continue on the same path going forward.

Locus’ success has always been made possible thanks to its diversely talented, results-driven team and each member’s commitment to breakthrough environmental technologies. At Locus, our passion is fueled by the challenge of developing the best system available to assist our customers with their information management needs. Even sixteen years after the company’s inception, we are hard at work every day to continuously improve our offerings and help our customers simplify the management of their environmental information.