Committed to Development of an Open Cloud and to Its Strategic Partners, Rackspace Kicks off Ecosystem with 25 Participants and Tools; More Expected Soon

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 25, 2009-- Rackspace® Hosting (NYSE:RAX), the world’s leader in hosting and cloud computing, today announced the launch of Cloud Tools, an online service for sharing tools, applications and services built by the company’s strategic partners and independent developers for The Rackspace Cloud. This announcement further signals Rackspace’s continued commitment to an open cloud, and to supporting the cloud ecosystem. The new site aims to match customers with companies and independent developers building services on The Rackspace Cloud platform that expand the functionality and openness of cloud computing.

The Cloud Tools site catalogues tools and applications created on The Rackspace Cloud in four categories: Monitoring & Reporting, Development Tools, System Management and Client Software. Visitors can browse the latest tools, search for features, rate the tools and post comments. For specific tools, users can view screenshots and user ratings, review user feedback and watch demo videos before being directed to the strategic partner’s website for download. Cloud Tools also highlights a “From the Community” section offering independent developers a way to publish their tools built using The Rackspace Cloud APIs and make them readily available to customers.

“The Rackspace Cloud is an excellent solution for scalable, on-demand computing, backed by Rackspace’s renowned customer service,” said Michael Crandell, RightScale CEO. “Rackspace’s commitment to helping drive success for their partners by leveraging their substantial customer base makes them a smart choice for cloud developers. We are thrilled to be a part of The Rackspace Cloud’s growing cloud ecosystem and to helping Rackspace customers reduce the complexity of cloud computing with the RightScale Cloud Management Platform.”

Cloud Tools, available today, features tools from such companies as RightScale, providing its Cloud Management Platform for enterprises, Mixpanel, a startup providing real-time user interaction analytics, Cyberduck, providing an open source file browser for Mac OS X that supports Rackspace Cloud Files, and tools from fifteen other partners and developers including: Beanstalk, Cloud Mobile, Cloudkick, Django Cumulus, Elastic Rack, enStratus, jclouds, Jungle Disk (a Rackspace subsidiary), LibCloud, Olark Live Website Chat, rPath, SOASTA, Sonian, Vanilla, Zeus, and several more projects from the community. Other companies and developers have indicated that they are planning to make their tools, applications and services available in the coming weeks. Some tools are free while others can be purchased for a fee established by the developer.

“At Rackspace, it is a real priority to constantly seek out new opportunities to connect our customers with quality services,” said Jim Curry, vice president of corporate development, Rackspace Hosting. “This tool-sharing service, along with our commitments to collaborate with the community to build an open cloud, lays the foundation for a large ecosystem. With the recent release of our APIs, we’ve seen an influx of interest in developing applications for our cloud computing offerings and we’re pleased to announce that such applications can be featured in our new Cloud Tools site.”

“As developers we are always looking for outstanding platforms to publish and promote the tools and applications we create and Cloud Tools is just that,” said Paul Querna, contributor, Libcloud project. “As a testament to its commitment to an open cloud, we look forward to further collaborating with The Rackspace Cloud and the rest of the developer community on tools introduced on the site.”

The Rackspace Cloud offers a suite of services, Cloud Servers™, Cloud Sites™ and Cloud Files™ designed to help companies minimize the hassles, high costs and complexities associated with scaling dedicated hardware.

For more information or to learn how your application can be featured on The Rackspace Cloud Tools please visit: tools.rackspace.com.

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

As the leader and specialist in hosting services, Rackspace® Hosting is changing the way businesses worldwide buy IT. Rackspace delivers computing-as-a-service, integrating the industry’s best technologies into a flexible service offering, making computing more reliable and affordable. A trusted partner to companies of all sizes, Rackspace enables IT departments to be more effective. Rackspace is distinguished by its award-winning Fanatical Support®, furthering the company’s mission to be one of the world’s greatest service companies. Rackspace is recognized as one of FORTUNE Magazine’s 100 Best companies to work for in the US, ranking number 43 on the list. Rackspace's portfolio of hosted IT services includes Managed Hosting, Cloud Hosting, and Email and Apps. For more information on Rackspace Hosting please 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 cloud hosting products and services; anticipated operational and financial benefits from our Cloud Hosting products and services or from further use and development of our cloud hosting products and services; 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 Cloud Hosting products and services may not materialize, due to a number of reasons including (i) a failure of the products to attain adequate reliability, quality or compatibility, (ii) changes in technology which adversely affect the benefit of the products, (iii) general economy or technology industry downturns, (iv) internal strategy decisions that negatively impact the progression or development of the products, and (v), and other risks that are described in Rackspace Hosting’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, filed with the SEC on August 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.

Source: Rackspace Hosting

The Rackspace Cloud
Krisana Puccio, 210-312-5238
Marketing Manager
krisana.puccio@rackspace.com
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Rackspace Hosting
Angel Schneider, 210-410-3752
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