Photo credit: Andrew Hyde/Flickr
Rackspace has made two product announcements over the past week; firstly updating its Hybrid Cloud offering, RackConnect v3, as well as Cloud Office, a series of business productivity tools in combination with Microsoft.
The two releases play into Rackspace’s key strengths, of open hybrid IT and managed cloud services. RackConnect v3 offers various features, including enhanced security, increased scalability and automation, enhanced customer experience and more device options. The RackConnect solution offers businesses the ability to connect their dedicated servers to Rackspace’s fully managed cloud.
The latest iteration “redefines hybrid cloud by offering enterprise customers a migration path to the public cloud with none of the downside,” according to Rackspace CTO John Engates.
Cloud Office, by contrast, is a new business unit from Rackspace, leaning on its partnership with Microsoft to deliver a combination of enterprise services. This includes Microsoft Exchange and Rackspace Email, as well as Lync and SharePoint collaboration tools.
In both product launches, Rackspace clearly notes the importance of its 24/7 ‘fanatical support’. It gives the company a branding edge, similar in that way to Salesforce, and also plays into its core values of transparency. Back in July Nigel Beighton, Rackspace VP technology, mentioned the fanatical support as an important differentiator.
“We’re a human business,” he told CloudTech. “We’re not about the infrastructure, we’re about the people.”
The company has been through its fair share of turbulence in recent months. Last month Rackspace appointed Taylor Rhodes as its new chief executive and announced it was remaining independent after dismissing any merger and acquisition talk. While Rackspace argued it was their decision to move away from potential suitors, industry commentators weren’t as sure, with shares dipping on the news.
Rackspace’s fortunes have increased since then, however, with analysts at Bank of America upgrading the company’s shares from “neutral” to “buy” amid a series of positive analyst comment, according to a WKRB report.
You can find out more about Cloud Office here and RackConnect here.
