NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 14, 2026--
Align, the premier global provider of technology infrastructure solutions and managed IT services celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Founded in New York City in 1986, Align has evolved alongside its clients through four decades of technological change, market shifts, and business transformation.
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What began as a company focused on complex technology relocations for Wall Street firms has grown into a global provider with two lines of business: Professional Services, which provides technology infrastructure solutions across the data center lifecycle, and Managed Services, which provides IT and cybersecurity services for the Alternative Investment industry.
“Align was built around solving complex technology challenges for clients who couldn’t afford disruption,” said Jim Dooling, Founder and CEO of Align. “That hasn’t changed. What has changed is the technology and what our clients need from us. For four decades, we’ve anticipated what’s next, continually evolving our capabilities to deliver the IT solutions and expertise our clients need to navigate change and stay ahead of their competition.”
EVOLVING ALONGSIDE OUR CLIENTS
Over the past 40 years, periods of significant technology disruption and business change have continually reshaped client needs. Each shift brought new challenges and new opportunities for Align to expand its capabilities, strengthen its expertise and deliver solutions to increasingly complex technology requirements.
The company’s early work managing technology relocations for financial services firms required a deep understanding of complex, interconnected environments. As technology evolved, Align expanded its capabilities to help clients design and build the technology infrastructure within their data centers, migrate data and support increasingly sophisticated technology environments.
The company adapted again as distributed computing, globalization and changing business models reshaped the technology landscape. Key moments along the way include helping clients prepare for the Y2K transition, supporting business continuity and recovery efforts following September 11, 2001, diversifying beyond financial services during the 2008 financial crisis, and helping organizations accelerate digital transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While each of these moments presented different challenges, the underlying need remained the same: ensuring clients had the technology and infrastructure required to support their evolving business needs.
“We have never stood still, and neither have our clients. Our job is to understand where they’re going so we can deliver value, expertise and the solutions they need to get there. When change happens quickly, we need to be ready to move just as quickly to ensure their technology can support where their business is headed,” said Dooling.
BUILDING FOR WHAT’S NEXT
As Align enters its fifth decade, another major shift underway is the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. These technologies are creating new demands for data center capacity, power, connectivity and specialized infrastructure. In recent years, Align has built 5 gigawatts of capacity for clients, expanding its capabilities to support the scale and complexity of these emerging technologies.
As organizations expand into new geographies and rethink their technology environments, Align continues to help clients design, procure, and build the infrastructure required to support emerging technologies and evolving business requirements.
“Forty years gives you a pretty good perspective on how quickly things can change. We’ve seen major shifts in technology, business and the markets we serve, but one thing has remained constant: our commitment to working alongside our clients and partners, building lasting relationships and understanding where their businesses are headed so we can deliver the technology and expertise they need to get there,” said Dooling.
40 YEARS OF MOVING FORWARD
Align commemorated its 40th anniversary with two milestone celebrations honoring the company’s history, growth and the people who have contributed to its success. The first brought together Align professionals and supporters in Virginia, home to one of the country’s largest data center regions.
The second was a weekend-long celebration in New York City, where Align was founded, culminating in an event at the Rainbow Room attended by family, longtime supporters, partners, and current and former colleagues.
Reflecting on Align's 40-year journey and the opportunities ahead, Dooling said:
“Our clients have never stopped evolving, and neither have we. We’re proud of what we’ve built over the past 40 years, but we’re equally excited about Align’s continued growth and the opportunities ahead. We have a strong foundation, an incredible team and a clear vision for the future, and we’re excited to build on that momentum in our fifth decade.”
About Align
Align is a premier global provider of technology infrastructure solutions. For 40 years, leading firms worldwide have relied on Align to guide them through IT challenges, delivering complete, secure solutions for business change and growth. Align is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and has offices in New York City, London, Virginia, Arizona, New Jersey, Chicago, San Francisco, Salt Lake City & Portland. Learn more at www.align.com.
Tom Weber, Jim Dooling, and Art Dooling
Align celebrates its 40th anniversary at the Rainbow Room in New York City
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The 76ers tried. Oh, how they tried, to find that missing All-Star, that missing piece they could team with Joel Embiid and a rotating cast of starters and that could finally lead the franchise to an NBA championship.
Jimmy Butler. Paul George. James Harden. Tobias Harris. Al Horford.
Nothing more now in Philly than throwback jerseys in the back of some teenager's closet.
Josh Harris bought the team in 2011 and not even a year later the Sixers made the first splash of his tenure with a blockbuster deal when they landed All-Star big man Andrew Bynum in a trade with the Lakers.
Bynum with his achy knees never played a game with the Sixers. Butler, Harden and most of the rest certainly had their moments, yet they not only failed to win a championship in Philadelphia, but they also could not get the Sixers even out of the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
That doesn't even count the draft night disappointments since Harris' first draft in 2012. Ben Simmons. Jahlil Okafor. Markelle Fultz. Michael Carter-Williams.
The trade-deadline blockbusters and late-night deals all seemed at the time like the Sixers were swinging for the fences.
The moves were just bunts compared to the summer of 2026.
The Sixers are as all-in as they've ever been in playing for a championship after they traded for Jaylen Brown, an NBA Finals MVP and champion with the Boston Celtics, and landed LeBron James as a free agent on the NBA veteran minimum salary.
If it doesn't work now, with perhaps the best starting five in the NBA, when will it for the Sixers?
“I wouldn't say it didn't work out,” Embiid said of the second-fiddle failures. “Obviously, we didn't win. It's hard to win when you get a group of guys together for one year, two years, maybe.”
The 76ers only have to look at their last championship in 1983 to know that sometimes going outside the organization is the right call. Take 1982, when the Sixers signed reigning NBA MVP Moses Malone to a six-year free-agent contract. Malone won MVP honors again in his first season with the Sixers and helped lead stalwarts Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones and Andrew Toney to an NBA title in 1983.
Brown and James will try to do the same in Year 1 and avoid joining this recent list of stars who left Philadelphia without a ring:
Former Sixer executive Daryl Morey had his heart set on Harden and landed the feared Beard from Brooklyn at the February 2022 trade deadline. He had been one of the league’s top players for the previous decade, having won three scoring titles and the 2018 league MVP award.
Harden essentially forced his way with trades out of Houston and Brooklyn and soon added the Sixers to the list.
His low moments with the 76ers came in the 2023 playoffs when the Sixers blew a 3-2 lead to the Celtics. Harden was 0 for 6 on 3s in Game 2 and Game 6 losses. He scored only nine points in Game 7, and he went scoreless in the second half.
Harden got into a contractual dispute in the offseason that lingered into training camp, and he was traded in October 2023 to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Sixers made another deadline deal in 2019 to land Harris from the Clippers. Harris had a modest career, and the Sixers were already his fifth NBA team at the time of the deal. Feeling the pressure to keep Harris after trading away a slew of draft picks, the Sixers signed him to a five-year, $180 million contract that summer.
Harris never made an All-Star team over those five years, and he never delivered in playoff crunch time. His low moment came in a 2024 playoff loss to the Knicks. Harris, who averaged 17 points in the regular season, went scoreless in 29 minutes for the Sixers in a Game 6 loss that ended their season.
George was indeed the chosen one for the Sixers in the summer of 2024. He signed a four-year, $212 million free-agent contract after the nine-time All-Star spurned the Los Angeles Clippers. With the move — and a coinciding extension with All-Star Tyrese Maxey — the franchise was feeling like they had assembled a championship-level Big Three.
George's low moment in Philadelphia was a 25-game suspension last season for flunking a drug test that put a permanent blemish on his career. George returned to have a solid postseason for the Sixers against the Celtics, which may have been his greatest contribution.
The deal wasn't a total loss. The Sixers were able to use George as the offseason anchor in a trade with the Celtics to obtain Brown.
Butler was an exciting arrival for the Sixers in November 2018 when they got a four-time All-Star in a trade with Minnesota.
Butler, Embiid and Simmons were christened a Big Three — one of many attempted by the Sixers over the last 15 years — and the team was instantly considered a serious threat to win it all.
Butler finished the season with the Sixers before going to Miami. Butler was frustrated with the Sixers' organizational structure and clashed with former coach Brett Brown. Butler felt he needed the ball in his hands and was irked in the playoffs — when the Sixers lost a semifinal series to Toronto in seven games — when he switched primary playmaking roles with Simmons.
His moment in Philadelphia actually came in 2022 when he returned with the Heat. After Miami eliminated the Sixers in the playoffs, Butler yelled as he walked off the court, “Tobias Harris over me?!"
Honorable mentions to Horford, Bynum — whose wasted season kickstarted the rebuild known as “The Process” — Danny Green, Josh Richardson and, well, the list goes on.
The 76ers hope the list of fiascos ends with James and Brown — and with a parade down Broad Street.
See AP’s full NBA coverage here
Philadelphia 76ers' Jaylen Brown, left, dunks the ball past New York Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers guard Jaylen Brown takes a shot prior to a preseason NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, his former team, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Philadelphia 76ers' LeBron James looks on during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
