- Australian IT Investment Opens Doors to Enterprise, Financial Markets and Government and Strengthens Commitment To Local IT Industry

SYDNEY, Aug. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Rackspace® Hosting (NYSE: RAX), the open cloud company, today announced the launch of its first Australian data centre, located at Erskine Park in Western Sydney.

(Logo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2011/10/24/20111024115533840674-l.jpg )

The new multi-million dollar investment will support the company's ongoing growth in Australia. Rackspace can now offer local dedicated hosting and managed virtualisation solutions to larger IT contracts looking to deploy enterprise grade private cloud solutions based on VMWare from enterprise, financial markets and government, or any other customer who prefers to keep their data onshore. The data centre also provides the perfect launch pad for Rackspace's own, OpenStack-based Open Cloud platform, expected to launch into the local market.

Since entering the Australian and New Zealand markets in 2009, Rackspace has experienced a significant increase in local customer numbers. Mark Randall, Country Manager of Rackspace, Australia and New Zealand said: "Our local customers have learnt that Rackspace is synonymous with the latest in innovative cloud hosting solutions, but the key success driver that really sets us apart from the competition is our focus on service by providing customers with Fanatical Support®."

Rackspace has its own global benchmark for tailored customer support levels. Its hallmark customer service experience called Fanatical Support®, provides personalised service 24x7x365 and has won the company numerous customer service awards. "Australian customers love our support. It really has set us apart in an industry otherwise dominated by telcos, with support models that leave a lot to be desired," Randall continued.

New South Wales Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade & Investment Andrew Stoner welcomed the investment as another positive step for Sydney's global profile as a leader for Australia's ICT sector.

"This is another Australian first for Sydney and New South Wales and fantastic news for our State's reputation globally as the nation's ICT and digital hub.

"Sydney and New South Wales are well-positioned for growth in the expanding global digital economy and Rackspace's investment is another significant vote of confidence in our capacity for innovation and collaboration across the ICT sector," Mr Stoner said.

The investment will eliminate any doubt about Rackspace's ongoing commitment to the local market and its Australian customer base, which includes: News Ltd, Webjet, Pacific Brands, Kogan, Lonely Planet, and Treasury Wine Estates.

Goran Stefkovski, Director of IT at Kogan and a recent Rackspace customer, said: "We recently launched our new Kogan website. An important part of the launch included carefully selecting a new hosting partner that provided infrastructure stability as well as flexibility to enable Kogan to implement 'cutting edge' hybrid web architectures. We evaluated several major hosting partners, but it was Rackspace's uptime guarantees, Fanatical Support and proactive management that became the winning factors".

The Australian data centre adds to its international data centre footprint, which includes existing facilities in Dallas, Chicago, Virginia, London, and Hong Kong. Since the company launched in 1998, Rackspace has grown its global base to over 190,000 customers and currently hosts more than 60 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies.

Jim Fagan, Managing Director of Rackspace, Asia Pacific said: "Delivering Fanatical Support and our services portfolio to our Australian customers is our top priority. As global expansion increasingly becomes part of many Australian businesses' immediate growth plans, when choosing Rackspace they know they can grow effortlessly with us thanks to our global presence."

To enhance its delivery of great services, Rackspace has extended its global partnerships with a range of world-class technology solution partners - including Brocade, Cisco, Dell, EMC, Microsoft and RedHat. Combined with Rackspace's own leading support offering and innovation, customers will benefit from industry leading technology on all levels.

In response to customer requests, Rackspace has recently begun offering customers agreements under New South Wales law, which are compliant with Australia's National Privacy Principals. This arrangement will be extended to customers hosting at the Sydney data centre.

Alan Schoenbaum, General Counsel of Rackspace said: "Rackspace will not transfer customer owned data from our Australia data centre to a law enforcement agency of another country (including the United States) without a customer's consent unless it is compelled to do so by Australian law.  Data hosted in Australia by Rackspace is subject to the same laws as cloud services operated by wholly owned Australian companies."

The Australian data centre is built according to Rackspace's high global standards and the local agreement was negotiated with global partner Digital Realty. It is currently in the late stages of construction and the first customers are expected to go live in late 2012. To ensure it is operated in the same manner as other Rackspace data centres, it includes security certifications upon launch for UTI Tier III Design and Construction, with certifications planned for SSAE16, ISO 27001, ISO 14001, PCI, and ASIO Intruder Resistant once fully operational. 

About Rackspace

Rackspace® Hosting (NYSE: RAX) is the open cloud company, delivering open technologies and powering more than 190,000 customers worldwide. Rackspace provides its renowned Fanatical Support® across a broad portfolio of IT products, including Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Hosting and Dedicated Hosting. The company offers choice, flexibility and freedom from vendor lock in. Rackspace has been recognized by Bloomberg BusinessWeek as a Top 100 Performing Technology Company and is featured on Fortune's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. Rackspace was positioned in the Leaders Quadrant by Gartner Inc. in the "2011 Magic Quadrant for Managed Hosting." Rackspace is headquartered in San Antonio with offices and data centers around the world. For more information, visit www.rackspace.com.au.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of Rackspace could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including any statements concerning expected data centre operations at the new facility, operational and financial results, long term investment strategies, growth plans including international expansion plans, the performance or market share relating to products and services; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include infrastructure failures, including failures at the new data centre, the effectiveness of managing company growth, technological and competitive factors, regulatory factors, and other risks that are described in Rackspace Hosting's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, filed with the SEC on August 9, 2012. Except as required by law, Rackspace Hosting assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

SOURCE Rackspace