Rackspace Technology
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cloud computing |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founder | Richard Yoo, Dirk Elmendorf, Patrick Condon |
| Headquarters | San Antonio, Texas , United States |
Area served | United States; Australia; Canada; United Kingdom; India; Dubai; Switzerland; Netherlands; Germany; Singapore; Mexico; Hong Kong |
Key people | Amar Maletira (CEO) |
| Products | Cloud hosting, managed cloud services, Fanatical Support |
| Website | www |
Rackspace Technology, Inc. is a cloud computing firm based in the United States, with its main office located in San Antonio, Texas. The company also maintains additional facilities in Blacksburg, Virginia; Austin, Texas; and operates internationally across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, Dubai, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Singapore, Mexico, and Hong Kong. Its data centers are strategically positioned in prominent global locations such as Amsterdam, Virginia, Chicago, Dallas, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Kansas City, New York City, San Jose, Shanghai, Queenstown (Singapore), and Sydney.
1990s
Established in 1996 by Richard Yoo alongside Dirk Elmendorf and Patrick Condon, Rackspace secured early-stage funding in 1998 from Graham Weston and Morris Miller, who also took on leadership roles within the company. Originally named Cymitar Technology Group by Yoo after his departure from Trinity University in Texas, the enterprise initially offered internet access services before adopting the Rackspace name in 1998. That year marked Graham Weston's appointment as CEO, guiding the company’s foundational business direction and expansion.
2000s
Lanham Napier joined Rackspace as chief financial officer in 2000 and ascended to CEO in 2006 following Richard Yoo’s exit. Concurrently, Weston transitioned from CEO to chairman of the board.
In 2008, Rackspace shifted its headquarters to the former Windsor Park Mall located in Windcrest, Texas. Prior to this move, Graham Weston had acquired the Montgomery Ward building at that site in 2006. After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, Rackspace staff contributed to converting the mall into a refuge for approximately 1,300 evacuees. This redevelopment initiative catalyzed local economic growth and led to the establishment of streets named Racker Road and Fanatical Way—both inspired by Rackspace’s hallmark "Fanatical Support" customer service philosophy. This model prioritized continuous live support with no voicemail interruptions and included representatives stationed worldwide including London. This distinctive service approach provided a competitive edge within the web hosting sector. Subsequently, Fanatical Support expanded its scope to assist enterprises adopting cloud hosting solutions.
Rackspace launched its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2008 under the ticker "RAX," raising $187.5 million by selling 15 million shares at $12.50 each. Despite this capital influx, the stock experienced an approximate 20% decline shortly after trading commenced.
On December 18, 2009, a major service disruption occurred impacting clients utilizing Rackspace’s Dallas–Fort Worth data center infrastructure as well as users of Rackspace Cloud services.
2010s
In 2010, Rackspace terminated hosting for the Dove World Outreach Center's website following pastor Terry Jones’ announcement of plans to burn the Qur'an on September 11th anniversary—a decision that attracted criticism from Business Insider.
Lanham Napier resigned as CEO in 2014; Taylor Weston served as interim CEO before Taylor Rhodes was promoted first to president and subsequently to CEO within that year.
In August 2016, Apollo Global Management agreed to acquire Rackspace for $4.3 billion. The deal was finalized in November 2016 resulting in Rackspace’s delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.
CEO Taylor Rhodes resigned in May 2017 and was succeeded by Joe Eazor; Eazor was later replaced by Kevin Jones in 2019.
2020s
In June 2020, the company adopted the name Rackspace Technology to better reflect its broadened focus on multi-cloud service offerings.
Rackspace Technology went public in August 2020 through an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol "RXT," issuing 33.5 million shares at a price of $21.00 each, marking a pivotal advancement in its financial development and market visibility.
Amar Maletira was named CEO in September 2022, bringing new strategic direction aimed at accelerating growth and innovation within the cloud services sector.
December 2022 saw a significant service disruption affecting hosted Exchange customers, which was classified as a security incident. In response, the company advised clients to transition to Microsoft 365, indicating a shift in product focus. This outage led to a decline of up to 16% in Rackspace’s stock price on the first trading day post-incident.
A class action lawsuit was filed by impacted businesses following the outage; however, it was dismissed by a judge in San Antonio in May 2023, reducing potential legal and financial exposure for Rackspace.
In January 2024, Rackspace moved its Global Headquarters within San Antonio from Windcrest's "The Castle" to the RidgeWood Plaza II building, signifying an update in its corporate infrastructure and regional presence.
Acquisitions
On September 13, 2007, Rackspace acquired Webmail.us, an email hosting company headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia.
On October 22, 2008, the company expanded by purchasing Jungle Disk, a cloud storage provider, as well as SliceHost, a virtual private server (VPS) provider.
Rackspace acquired SharePoint911, a Microsoft SharePoint consulting firm located in Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 16, 2012.
In 2017, Rackspace further grew its capabilities by acquiring TriCore Solutions in May and announcing plans to acquire Datapipe in September.
To enhance application service offerings, Rackspace purchased RelationEdge on September 17, 2018.
On November 4, 2019, Rackspace declared its intention to acquire Onica, a company specializing in cloud-native consulting and managed services.
Additional acquisitions include Cloudkick, Anso Labs, Mailgun, ObjectRocket, Exceptional Cloud Services, and ZeroVM.
On January 18, 2022, Rackspace bolstered its presence in the Asia-Pacific region by acquiring Just Analytics, a Singapore-based firm specializing in cloud data analytics and artificial intelligence.
Involvement with other companies
In January 2003, Rackspace launched ServerBeach in San Antonio as an affordable dedicated server option designed for tech enthusiasts seeking dependable and flexible hosting solutions. Richard Yoo was instrumental in ServerBeach’s inception. In October 2004, Bandwidth and colocation provider Peer 1 Hosting (now Cogeco Peer 1) acquired ServerBeach for $7.5 million. Peer 1 entered the UK managed hosting market in January 2009 where ServerBeach competed directly with Rackspace’s UK division led by Dominic Monkhouse, former managing director of Rackspace Limited.
Mosso Inc. was introduced in October 2006 as an experimental platform for white-label hosting services that eventually evolved into the foundation of the Rackspace Cloud Computing product line.
Rackspace acquired Webmail.us on October 1, 2007; this private email hosting business based in Blacksburg, VA was rebranded as Mailtrust in May 2009 and integrated into Rackspace’s Cloud Office division.
On October 22, 2008, Rackspace expanded its offerings by acquiring Slicehost—a virtual server provider—and Jungle Disk—an online backup service provider.
On March 8, 2017, Rackspace announced plans to provide managed services for the Google Cloud Platform, initiating beta testing by July with full rollout scheduled later that year. Collaborating with Google’s Customer Reliability Engineering team aimed at delivering cloud applications with performance and reliability aligned with Google’s high standards.
OpenStack
In 2010, Rackspace contributed the source code of its Cloud Files service to the OpenStack initiative under the Apache License, establishing the foundation for the OpenStack Object Storage module. By April 2012, Rackspace integrated OpenStack Compute as the core technology for its Cloud Servers offering, unveiling a revamped control panel alongside additional services including databases, server monitoring, block storage solutions, and virtual networking capabilities. In 2015, two executives from Rackspace joined the board of the OpenStack Foundation, underscoring the company's influential role in cloud innovation. As confirmed by CTO John Engates in 2016, Rackspace leveraged OpenStack to support both its public and private cloud platforms, solidifying its position in the competitive cloud services market.
Recognition
Rackspace was ranked #32 on Fortune's "Top 100 Best Companies to Work For" list in 2008 and was recognized again among the top 100 workplaces in both 2011 and 2013, reflecting its commitment to fostering a positive corporate environment and high employee satisfaction.