From left: Martin Chan, Senior Vice President, PCCW Solutions; Steve Lam, Managing Director, Dell Hong Kong Limited; Graham Weston, Chairman, Rackspace Hosting; Simon Galpin, Acting Director-General of Investment Promotion at InvestHK; and Jim Fagan, Vice President and Managing Director for Asia Pacific, Rackspace Hosting Asia
	Rackspace Hosting's new Hong Kong data centre was built with scope to double existing capacity

Rackspace Hosting, the world's leading provider of Information Technology (IT) hosting, has set up its Asia headquarters and data centre in Hong Kong in response to their customer preference for doing business in Hong Kong. A leading specialist in hosting services, the US firm provides a full range of services, including managed hosting, email hosting and cloud hosting. "Asia represents a significant growth opportunity for Rackspace, especially in the financial services area,” said Jim Fagan, Rackspace Hosting Vice President and Managing Director for Asia-Pacific. "We believe Hong Kong's world-class IT infrastructure and rich talent pool will help us succeed in bringing another perspective to our service commitment.”
 
The decision to set up in Hong Kong was also prompted by feedback from its Asia-Pacific clients, which currently number more than 500, for a facility in Asia to support their regional operations. "As our customers expand to other regions, they want a partner that will grow with them. 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, company President and CEO. "Hong Kong has a strong local economy and growing customer demand for hosting.”

Its Hong Kong data centre, the company's eighth, is an "important step in strengthening the company's presence to build on its hosting service offerings,” according to Mr Napier. Partnering with computer manufacturer Dell Hong Kong, the US$20 million centre is operating in an 836 gross square metre facility, which can later be expanded to 1,670 square metres.

Platform for growth

Listed as one of Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies in the US, Rackspace Hosting was set up 10 years ago in Texas, integrating the industry's best technologies into a flexible service offering, making computing more reliable and affordable. It employs about 2,000 people around the world, with net revenues increasing more than 50 per cent each year to US$362 million in 2007.

Setting up its Asia headquarters in Hong Kong is just the first step in the company's plans in the region. It eventually wants to expand into the Chinese mainland, as well as to countries such as Australia, Japan and South Korea.

"Hong Kong is an excellent choice for a data centre," said Simon Galpin, Acting Director-General of Investment Promotion at InvestHK. "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 China. We are very pleased that Rackspace has decided to invest in Hong Kong.”

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