It's become tradition that every January I write a brief blog recapping the previous year. I considered using this space to reflect on presidential politics and celebrity deaths, but it seems like a few other commentators beat me to the punch. So, I guess I will just focus on what 2016 brought to us here at Equinox.

The biggest milestone of the year was our 30th anniversary in early September. In a recent blog, our CEO, Byron Middendorf, wrote about the personal highs and lows that are part of this milestone for him — it's good reading and probably not what you'd expect. You can also find on our website a pictorial overview of the last 30 years and tributes and congratulations from more than 50 customers, current and former employees, partners, and vendors.

On the sales front, we continued a multi-year trend of sales growth, with the highest total revenue in company history. Fueling this growth were new customers as well as current customers who updated existing implementations and deployed new solutions. Included among our many engagements last year were:

On the fraud management front, we continued to work closely with our customers to ensure that Protector is evolving to address the ever-changing threat of toll fraud. That includes incorporating dozens of suggestions from our recent user group meeting as well as continuing to refine our training, documentation, and support offerings.

For our usage analytics platform, TeleLink, additional modules were a recurring theme last year. We now have many customers using TeleLink for routing assurance as well as FCC rural call completion reporting. Among our numerous Metaswitch customers, popular new modules include bursted usage reporting and Metastat (OM) reporting.

2016 also marked milestones for several folks on our team. Both Joe Herron (VP of Support) and Renee Workman (Software Quality Assurance Tester) celebrated their 20th anniversary last year, and Bill Menees (Senior Software Architect) and Chris Lowe (Software Quality Assurance Tester) marked 5 years at Equinox.

On a personal note, I continue to appreciate the many, many good friends and fine people that I have the privilege of working with. If you've read this far, then you can certainly count yourself among them. If you find yourself similarly blessed, pass along a little good karma today in the form of an unprovoked smile, a door held for a stranger, or an extra-long hug for your kids. Amidst what seems to be growing uncertainty and fear here in the states and around the globe, it's clear the world is far from perfect, and yet, we have so much to be grateful for.

From all of us at Equinox, we wish you a wonderfully happy, peaceful, and prosperous new year!

About the Author — David West is Executive Vice President of Equinox Information Systems. To learn more about Equinox, visit equinoxis.com or call (615) 612-1200.