SAN ANTONIO — July 25, 2005 — Rackspace Managed Hosting today announced it was recognized by Microsoft as its 2005 Hosting Service Provider of the Year. The company was recognized for excellence in delivering Microsoft-based customer solutions at the 2005 Microsoft Partner Program Awards in a ceremony held July 9 in Minneapolis at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference.

“This is the second time that Microsoft has honored Rackspace with the Hosting Provider of the Year distinction,” said Graham Weston, chief executive officer, Rackspace Managed Hosting. “Microsoft represents the fastest-growing part of our business and Rackspace is committed to providing a superior managed hosting solution on the Microsoft platform. Our close partnership with Microsoft translates into better expertise and more value for our customers.”

Awards were presented in a number of categories, with winners chosen from a pool of more than 1,800 entrants worldwide. The Hosting Service Provider of the Year Award is part of the Advanced Infrastructure Solutions Specialization and recognizes partner excellence in the Hosting category by showing the skills and expertise to design and implement innovative, cost-effective solutions that incorporate Microsoft technologies.

“We are honored to congratulate Rackspace as one of our Specialization Excellence Award winners,” said Allison Watson, vice president of the Worldwide Partner Sales and Marketing Group at Microsoft. “Its achievements this year have helped raise the standard for delivery of customer solutions and support, and we thank Rackspace for choosing to build on Microsoft technologies.”

Receipt of the Specialization Excellence Award is based on a partner’s demonstrated ability to deliver specific solutions within a specialized subset of Microsoft’s competency areas, solutions categories that represent a particular business practice area or partner business model. Requirements to achieving a specialization competency include certifications, exams and customer references.

About Rackspace Managed Hosting
Rackspace Managed Hosting™ is the fastest growing managed hosting provider for customers of all sizes – from start-ups to enterprise customers. Founded in 1998, Rackspace has built a world-class service organization based on its philosophy of Fanatical Support™. The company offers a wide range of managed services for enterprise hosting platforms and currently hosts 15 percent of the Fortune 100 Companies. For more information, visit www.rackspace.com, or call 800-961-2888.