Rackspace Aims at Asian Market

• By theWHIR.com , September 08, 2008

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By Liam Eagle, theWHIR.com

September 8, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Early on Monday, hosting company Rackspace (rackspace.com) issued the announcement that it had established an Asian headquarters and a data center in Hong Kong, exhibiting, according to the press release, the company's confidence in the business opportunity represented by the area.

Rackspace's plans for the region include an investment of "at least $20 million," which covers the lease on the new facility as well as equipment and personnel. Located in Hong Kong's Fo Tan district, the facility will have approximately 9,500 square feet of gross space at first, and will be expandable to about 18,000 square feet.

According to the company, the decision to locate its Asian headquarters in Hong Kong took into account the region's reputation in the local business community, as well as the local availability of telecommunications and its talent pool.

"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, Rackspace president and CEO, quoted in the announcement. "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."

This isn't the first word on the new Asian headquarters, which, according to Data Center Knowledge has been known to be in the works since a July SEC filing mentioned the lease on the facility.

What's more, it isn't Rackspace's first experience in the Asian market, or in Hong Kong. In a press release dated May 9, 2000, Rackspace described its work setting up an Asian office in Hong Kong, and the appointment of Scott Cloud as its director of Asian operations.

It's reasonable to assume things have changed on the company's Asian front in the last eight years, but it's difficult to determine to exactly what extent. The new announcement quotes Jim Fagan, managing director of Rackspace Hosting Asia.

"Asia represents a significant growth opportunity for Rackspace," says Fagan. "The foundation of our success is hiring new 'Rackers' in Hong Kong to join our unique work environment and bring a fresh perspective of service to our award-winning Fanatical Support."

There's a chance the newly public company will discuss its plans for Asia at the investors call scheduled to take place later this week.

The announcement of the new data center says the company already has more than 500 customers based in the Asia Pacific region, and calls the establishment of the Hong Kong data center "an important step in strengthening the company's presence to build on its hosting service offerings." The sales and support team in Hong Kong will complement the company's existing operations in the US and UK.

Monday's announcement says the operation in Hong Kong would offer Rackspace's full range of services, "including managed hosting, cloud hosting, virtualization, security and email services, storage and backup and professional services."

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