Rackspace Hosting Expands to Asia

Web Host Opens Asian Headquarters and Hong Kong Data Center

HONG KONG, Sep 07, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Rackspace(R) Hosting (RAX), the world’s leader and specialist in hosting services, today announced the opening of its Asian headquarters and data center in Hong Kong. This expansion into Asia marks the Company’s continued investment in superior customer service and exhibits its confidence in the business opportunity that Asia represents.

Rackspace selected Hong Kong due to its reputation within the global business economy, its world-class IT infrastructure, multiple telecommunication providers and rich talent pool. Rackspace also solicited feedback from its current customer base in the Asian Pacific region and the majority of those respondents confirmed their preference for doing business in Hong Kong. The data center, located in the Fo Tan district of Hong Kong, will represent an investment of at least US$20 million when complete, inclusive of data center lease obligations and infrastructure, equipment and personnel expenses. The new data center will initially have approximately 9,500 gross square feet and will be expandable to about 18,000 gross square feet.

“As our customers expand to other regions, they want a partner that will grow with them, and our expansion into Asia is an important step towards meeting our goal of becoming one of the world’s great service companies,” said Lanham Napier, president and CEO, Rackspace Hosting. “Hong Kong has a strong local economy and growing customer demand for hosting, especially in the financial services area, so we look forward to a successful expansion in the Hong Kong market.”

The operation in Hong Kong will offer the full range of Rackspace service offerings including managed hosting, cloud hosting, virtualization, security and email services, storage and backup and professional services. The sales and support will be handled on a global basis with teams located in Hong Kong, the US and UK. Rackspace already has more than 500 customers based in Asia Pacific and the establishment of the data center in Hong Kong is an important step in strengthening the Company’s presence to build on its hosting service offerings.

Acting Director-General of Investment Promotion at InvestHK, Simon Galpin, in welcoming the launch of Rackspace’s data center in Hong Kong, said, “We are naturally very pleased that Rackspace has decided to invest in Hong Kong. As a hosting provider, Rackspace provides round-the-clock and reliable services to clients. Hong Kong is an excellent choice for Rackspace’s data center because of our stable political environment and sound legal systems that help protect data and intellectual property rights. We also offer a world-class telecommunications, information technology and electric power infrastructure that ensure the smooth running of the center. In addition, Hong Kong’s position as the gateway to Mainland China, soon to be the world’s third largest economy, provides a springboard for overseas companies to go into Mainland China. We look forward to the successful development of the data center and the business success of Rackspace in Hong Kong and elsewhere in this region.”