Lightspeed Systems is an

educational software Educational software is a term used for any computer software that is made for an educational purpose. It encompasses different ranges from language learning software to classroom management software to reference software. The purpose of all th ...

company based in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

that builds and sells

SaaS Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike oth ...

content-control software An Internet filter is software that restricts or controls the content an Internet user is capable to access, especially when utilized to restrict material delivered over the Internet via the Web, Email, or other means. Such restrictions can be appl ...

mobile device management Mobile device management (MDM) is the administration of mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, and laptops. MDM is usually implemented with the use of a third-party product that has management features for particular vendors of ...

, alert software, and

classroom management Classroom management is the process teachers use to ensure that classroom lessons run smoothly without disruptive behavior from students compromising the delivery of instruction. It includes the prevention of disruptive behavior preemptively, as ...

software to

K–12 K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an English language expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States and Canada, which is similar to publicly supported sch ...

schools.

History

Founded in 1999 in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of th ...

, the company was ranked #1855 out of the ''Inc 5000'' by ''Inc.com'' in 2012. However, ''Inc.com'' did not list the company as part of the ''Inc 5000'' after 2012. In 2019, Lightspeed Systems received an investment from

Madison Dearborn Partners Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP) is an American private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts of privately held or publicly traded companies, or divisions of larger companies; recapitalizations of family-owned or closely held companies; ba ...

. In January 2022, they acquired CatchOn, a real-time data analytics provider that helps with student engagement, and in March 2022, Lightspeed received another investment from

Genstar Capital Genstar Capital is a private equity firm that executes leveraged buyout transactions in middle-market companies based in North America. Founded in 1988, Genstar currently has approximately $33 billion in assets under management. Based in San ...

Products

Mobile Device Management

In 2013, Lightspeed introduced a Mobile Learning Essentials package, which included Lightspeed Mobile Device Management.

Mobile device management Mobile device management (MDM) is the administration of mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, and laptops. MDM is usually implemented with the use of a third-party product that has management features for particular vendors of ...

helps school IT staff to manage school devices more easily through the use of policies.

Filter

In 2017, Lightspeed announced the Relay Filter, which was later renamed to simply Lightspeed Filter. Lightspeed Systems advertises their Filter product as blocking inappropriate content, and a tool for CIPA compliance. It originally was only supported on

Chromebook Chromebook (sometimes stylized in lowercase as chromebook) is a line of laptops, desktops, tablets and all-in-one computers that run ChromeOS, a proprietary operating system developed by Google. Chromebooks are optimised for web access. They al ...

s, but in 2018 support for

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

, and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

was announced.

Classroom Management

In April 2018, Lightspeed released Classroom Management, software which the company claims can monitor and control content loaded on devices used by students during class.

Analytics

In March 2019, Lightspeed Systems released the Lightspeed Analytics software, designed for reporting on apps, applications, and web sites used on school-owned devices.

Alert

In 2021 Lightspeed announced Alert, a product the company says uses

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

as well as human review to identify threats of school violence or student self-harm.

Criticism

In 2012, Darryl LaGacé, head of IT in

San Diego Unified School District San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) is a public school district based in San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 ...

, left to go work for Lightspeed Systems after previously procuring a $375,000 contract with them earlier that year. This brought up many concerns and scrutiny. In 2012, Lightspeed Systems raised questionable behavior when directly mass emailing customers accounts to poach from partner accounts.

References

{{reflist, 2 1999 establishments in California Companies based in Bakersfield, California Education companies established in 1999 Content-control software Internet safety Software companies based in California Software companies of the United States Software companies established in 1999