During orientation, we were split into groups of 8-10 people that would be our “team” for the week.  We called ourselves “The Uptime Warriors” or something similarly cheesy.  In my team there were a couple of support reps, an account manager, a marketing rep, and some others.  I’m a software dev guy, so the group was pretty mixed and represented a nice cross-section of the company. There was an Amazing Race-like game, where each team sent out two people at a time to various parts of the building to search for clues to the next step of a puzzle.  This involved finding a particular veteran employee and asking yes or no questions like “Is your favorite color blue?” or “Did you once throw up at a company party?”  We had a great time.

After introductions, we took a tour through various departments of the gigantic Rackspace building filled with energetic faces and friendly “Rackers”.  I remember hearing the giant gong on the sales floor marking each new sale.  They actually have a straight jacket hanging in the support department to recognize the “fanatic” of the month (awarded to the rep that best exemplifies Fanatical Support).  Pictures of past fanatics in the jacket lined the top half of the huge wall.  Everywhere we looked, the six Rackspace core values were posted on the wall.  We played competitive trivia games involving the company policies and were entertained by the lawyers acting out a hilarious courtroom skit about legal issues we should be aware of.  Our CEO, Lanham Napier, delivered a spirited rally that got the room riled up, followed by a speech on strength building by Graham Weston, our Chairman.

I remember thinking at one point that someone should record this whole thing to show the amount of attention and energy Rackspace puts into the orientation process.  They were gearing these new recruits up to be “fanatics” in the work place; gladiators trained for battle, ready to be sent out into the world to rain fanaticism down on the masses. “The Ownership Quotient”, states that happy employees drive customer satisfaction which drives customer loyalty.  That in turn drives profitability and growth.  Needless to say, after that week in Texas, I was convinced that Rackspace is one of the best things that could’ve happened to Webmail.us.

fieldParty.com – approx. 1999 – 2001

Two college students (Bill and Pat) dreaming big in a bar at the height of the tech bubble. What came out of those planning sessions was the events bulletin company that was fieldParty.com. They worked out of an apartment in Blacksburg, VA in their underwear. Both the name and the bubble were destined to die a miserable death.

Exedent – approx. 2001 – 2002

fieldParty.com wasn’t taking off as planned. But surprisingly, a little side service, “email hosting,” was. In an adept maneuver not unlike a ballet dancer on their tippy toes, they switched gears, dropped the fieldParty business, and adopted “email” as the core business strategy. They worked out of a basement in Northern Virginia in their underwear.

Excedent Technologies – approx. 2002 – 2005

Exedent sounded too much like “accident.” The letter “C” was added and we became Excedent Technologies, a very corporate sounding name. I joined around this time, and worked out of the same basement in my underwear.

Webmail.us – approx. 2005 – 2008

We couldn’t get Webmail.com, but got lucky with Webmail.us and launched the site in 2003. This was originally just the website and service name, i.e. “Webmail.us, a service of Excedent Technologies.” But in 2005 Pat decided once again to change the company name. We moved to the Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, VA around this time. In my mind, this was the start of a new life. The company grew up, and we actually had to dress to go to work.

Mailtrust – approx 2008 – 2009

Webmail.us became too confusing, and there were too many marketing issues with it. Around this time, Webmail.us was acquired by Rackspace and we changed our name to “Mailtrust” a few months after. You can read Pat’s explanation of the name change. We had by this time moved out of the CRC and invaded the spaces at the University Mall still in Blacksburg, VA. The company matured and graduated from the nurturing nest that was our startup cocoon.

Rackspace – from now until….

So here we are, ten years and half a dozen name changes later, and we’ve finally arrived at where we want to be. We’ll drop our independent name completely and become a part of the biggest brand in hosting—Rackspace. A lot has changed since those two college kids thought up a ridiculous name for a company. So rest in peace Mailtrust, formerly Webmail.us, formerly Excedent Technologies, formerly Exedent, formerly fieldParty.com. It will be sad to see you go.