The Rackspace Cloud Introduces its First Comprehensive Partner Program for Cloud Computing

New Program Demonstrates Company’s Commitment To Empowering its Solution Partners and Being The Easiest Cloud Provider To Do Business With

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Rackspace® Cloud, the cloud computing division of Rackspace Hosting (NYSE:RAX), today announced its new Partner Program benefiting resellers and affiliates. After soliciting feedback from its large community of partners, The Rackspace Cloud focused on designing a flexible program that streamlines interactions between Rackspace and its solution partners.

“As a leader in cloud computing and a company that is committed to maintaining tight bonds with our partner community, we have aimed to create one of the most compelling partner programs in our industry”

With the new program, these partners can leverage simple set-up, sign-up and payment processes, both for themselves and their customers. The program includes online resources such as a web portal for tracking and reporting; webinars and marketing collateral; opportunities for co-marketing; and open, standards-based APIs that are easy to build upon. These tools were designed to help make partners more efficient in reselling our services and adding affiliates. Taking it another step, The Rackspace Cloud also provides end-user billing and end-user support services to help eliminate time-consuming tasks from the partner’s day-to-day business.

“As a leader in cloud computing and a company that is committed to maintaining tight bonds with our partner community, we have aimed to create one of the most compelling partner programs in our industry,” said Emil Sayegh, general manager, The Rackspace Cloud. “Cloud hosting is a big part of the future of computing, and we’ve set up a program that allows our partner community to take advantage of this still untapped and nascent opportunity. It is our belief that by empowering our partners through this program, we will drive the adoption of cloud technologies in general, which will add tremendous value for our customers and the industry.”

The Partner Program consists of two tracks:

1. The Rackspace Cloud Reseller Program offers discounts of up to 12 percent for resellers selling large volumes of cloud hosting across Rackspace Cloud’s services including the recently announced Cloud Servers for Windows Beta. The popular Windows beta is allowing users to take advantage of Cloud Server’s new and existing features including control panel and API access for create, delete, reboot, and rename functions.
2. The Rackspace Cloud Affiliate Program members can earn from 5 to 7 percent (depending on the total number of referrals) of a referred hosting customer’s payments for a period of up to three years.

For more details about The Rackspace Cloud Solution partner Program, please visit www.rackspacecloud.com/partners.

“The Rackspace Cloud has made it extremely easy for us to participate in this program as an affiliate partner and ultimately expand our business,” said Yang Yang, Founder of Kavoir.com and Rackspace Cloud Affiliate Partner. “We’ve increased our revenue opportunities exponentially, without the need to invest a lot of time or money in managing the program. Instead, we can spend more time servicing our customers.”

Further extending the cloud ecosystem, the Solution Partner Program also encourages partners, like Kaavo – a provider of solutions for deploying, managing and securing applications in the cloud – to build tools on top of Rackspace Cloud’s open APIs and be rewarded through customer referrals and reselling.

“Working with The Rackspace Cloud in conjunction with their new partner program, Kaavo has been able to extend our reach through co-marketing opportunities and, at the same time, generate a new and significant stream of revenue,” said Jamal Mazhar, CEO, Kaavo and Rackspace Cloud Reseller Partner. “All my interactions with Rackspace, whether through the API or their friendly Rackers, have been exceptional.”

Based on the success of Rackspace Hosting’s Solution Partner Program, which was re-launched in December of last year, The Rackspace Cloud’s program enables new and existing businesses, including current members of the Rackspace Solution partner Network, to strengthen their position through referrals and reselling of Rackspace Cloud’s cloud computing technology.

About The Rackspace Cloud

The Rackspace Cloud provides on-demand scalable website, application, and storage hosting backed by Fanatical Support®. Through its suite of cloud solutions, Cloud Sites™, Cloud Files™ and Cloud Servers™, The Rackspace Cloud enables astute developers and IT managers to minimize the hassles, upfront investments, and high costs associated with dedicated hardware while offering the ability to easily scale hosting resources. For more information about The Rackspace Cloud, visit www.rackspacecloud.com or call 1-877-934-0409.

About Rackspace Hosting

Rackspace Hosting is the world leader in the hosting and cloud computing industry. The San Antonio-based company provides its customers Fanatical Support® in their portfolio of hosted IT services, including Managed Hosting, Cloud Computing and Email and Apps. For more information, visit www.rackspace.com.

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 Hosting 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 development, performance or market acceptance associated with our Cloud Hosting products or acceptance or use of our API’s; anticipated operational and financial benefits from our Cloud Hosting products and services or from further use and development of our API’s; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the possibility that benefits from our Partner Program may not materialize, due to a number of reasons including (i) a failure of the Partner Program to generate adequate interest from potential program partners, (ii) changes in technology which adversely affect the benefit of the products and services sold under the Partner Program, (iii) general economy or technology industry downturns that affect the viability of the Partner Program, (iv) internal strategy decisions that negatively impact the progression or development of the Partner Program, and (v), and other risks that are described in Rackspace Hosting’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, filed with the SEC on November 12, 2009. 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.