| Rackspace
Awarded Microsoft Gold Partner Certification for Intensive
Hosting Division; Windows Division Fuels Record Growth
of Managed Hosting Provide [18th August 2003]
SAN ANTONIO, Aug 18, 2003 (BUSINESS
WIRE) -- Rackspace Managed Hosting, a leading managed
hosting provider, today announced that its Intensive
Hosting division has been awarded Microsoft Gold Partner
Certification for Hosting and Application Services.
Intensive Hosting is a division of Rackspace that provides
enterprise hosting for business applications that run
on Microsoft technology. The Microsoft Gold Certified
Partner Program for Hosting and Application Services
brings market recognition to companies providing a consistent,
high-quality delivery of hosted services built on the
Microsoft platform. Intensive Hosting is one of only
four companies in the U.S. with Microsoft Gold Certification
status through the Application Infrastructure Provider
category.
"To achieve Microsoft Gold Certification
for Hosting and Application Services, Intensive Hosting
passed a rigorous on-site evaluation conducted by independent
assessors who measured operational expertise against
the high-bar program standards. The results demonstrated
that Intensive delivers a high caliber of hosted service
readiness, competency and capacity on the Microsoft
platform," said Pascal Martin, general manager
for Microsoft's Communications and Mobility Solutions
Group. "IT decision-makers who evaluate service
providers for enterprise hosting can be assured that
Intensive Hosting has achieved Microsoft's most prestigious
endorsement in the arena of hosted services."
Rackspace and Intensive Hosting have
achieved tremendous growth over the past year. Rackspace
has become Microsoft's fastest-growing hosting provider.
In the past 15 months, the company's Microsoft customer
base has grown 125 percent, with 60 percent of all new
company-wide revenue coming from customers selecting
to run their hosted servers on the Windows operating
system.
"Intensive Hosting demonstrates
our commitment to providing the most reliable, scaleable
and proactive hosting solution available for the Microsoft
platform," said Graham Weston, Rackspace chief
executive officer and president of Intensive Hosting.
"As a result, we've accelerated our growth while
increasing our profitability. Microsoft has been a big
part of our success."
The Microsoft Gold Certified distinction
helps end users and other critical players in the hosting
and application services value chain identify organizations
that meet a high level of service readiness, competency,
and capacity for deploying Microsoft technology. The
program only awards certification status for those specific
hosted or application services/solutions that meet eligibility
qualifications, proven service quality, and operational
readiness benchmarks. The program distinguishes certified
partners' quality of services and commitment to customers
and partners.
More information on Intensive's Microsoft
Gold Partner Certification for Hosting and Application
Services can be found at www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/business/intensive_rackspace.asp
or at http://www.intensive.com/gold_cert.aspx.
About Intensive Hosting
Intensive Hosting, a division of Rackspace
Managed Hosting, provides enterprise hosting for business
critical applications that run on Microsoft technology.
Intensive Hosting is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
For more information visit www.intensive.com or call
888-480-6840.
About Rackspace Managed Hosting
Rackspace Managed Hosting(tm) is a leading
provider of managed Web hosting solutions. Founded in
1998, Rackspace offers a wide range of managed services
for hosting platforms of all sizes and complexity, including
burstable connectivity, 99.999% uptime SLA, load balancing,
security and patching, advanced storage solutions and
disaster recovery. Rackspace has received numerous industry
awards for its brand of customer service, known as Fanatical
Support(tm), and was awarded the Frost & Sullivan
Customer Value Enhancement (CVE) Award in 2002 and 2003.
For more information, visit www.rackspace.com, or call
800-961-2888.
SOURCE: 
www.rackspace.com
Rackspace Managed Hosting, San Antonio
Annalie Drusch, 210-892-4000, ext.1234
adrusch@rackspace.com
or
Bridgeman Communications for Rackspace
Christine Cayer, 617-742-7270
christine@bridgeman.com
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