Rackspace Questions

What are you announcing today?

Slicehost is pleased to announce that we have entered into an agreement to be acquired by Rackspace Hosting, Inc. Once the transaction is complete, Slicehost will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rackspace.

Who is Rackspace Hosting?

Rackspace, now 10 years old, is one of the most respected companies in our industry and are now on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RAX) after recently going public. Rackspace delivers computing-as-service, striving to make it reliable and affordable. One of the reasons we like Rackspace is because they think like we do…they value their customers above everything else. They are known for award-winning Fanatical Support® and consider their mission be one of the world’s great service companies. Currently, more than 33,000 business customers utilize their hosted services which include managed hosting, email hosting and cloud hosting.  For more information, please visit www.rackspace.com.

Will Slicehost’s current offerings change with the acquisition?

Yes – we plan to make things better! At the Rackspace Cloud Hosting event, we also announced larger slices and a price reduction. Having Rackspace behind us will only give us more resources to reach our goals and meet our customers’ changing needs.

How will Slicehost be integrated with Rackspace offerings?

Both companies have technologies that can be leveraged across the businesses.  For example, CloudFiles, the scalable file storage from Rackspace will likely be integrated into Slicehost to expand backup, web serving and other capabilities.  In addition, the provisioning technology of Slicehost will likely be used in the Rackspace cloud offerings to provide additional functionality. This sharing will benefit customers of both companies.

What is the future of Slicehost?

Rackspace wants to build a strong developer focused offering and the Slicehost experience provides the perfect avenue to do that. There will be some integration and cross linking, but the Slicehost business will continue to grow and evolve.

How does this acquisition affect Slicehost customers

Our number one goal is to continue delivering the Slicehost experience.  In fact, we hope to make it even better.

How will support for Slicehost customers change?

Support will remain the same. We’ll be in the chat rooms and answering email, offering whatever help we can.  Ultimately, Rackspace will introduce managed options into the mix, but the Slicehost model tailored for developers will remain the same.

How is the combined company structured?

Slicehost will be a subsidiary of Rackspace.

What are Jason and Matt’s plans?

Jason and Matt are both fully engaged in the integration and will continue to drive Slicehost operations and work on strategic projects.

Why did Rackspace acquire Slicehost?

As the leader in managed hosting, Rackspace is interested in being the leader in cloud servers. Rackspace views Slicehost technologies as a key component of the cloud hosting world and therefore acquiring us makes perfect sense. Furthermore, we share a core set of values built on customer focus and great service. Our culture and vision fit perfectly with the Rackspace strategy, making it an easy decision.

Where can I learn more about Rackspace?

You can visit their website at www.rackspace.com. To learn more about the Rackspace cloud, goto cloud.rackspace.com.