Rackspace Story: Mario DeCristofano
As the guy behind @RackspaceUK, I’ve had the privilege to meet and talk to our amazing customers (that’s you!) over Twitter. That’s where I met Mario DeCristofano, aka @mariodc. When he told me he has been using Rackspace for over a decade, I had to hear more of his Rackspace Story.
So, tell us about yourself
I've worked for a slew of companies over the last 36 months. All these companies have been sector diverse and have ranged from Architectural, Telecoms & Engineering, Media & Digital FX, to Advertising, Web Design & Digital Agency.
What made you start using the Cloud?
I've been an evangelist and advocate of cloud solutions for some time. In all my roles, just demonstrating dramatic cost savings by leveraging cloud solutions is something which get's me out of bed in the morning! That's before you get to big wins like high availability, convenience, scalability etc which are also massive plus points. The cloud is certainly not going away, and I still see more and more the moving of on-premise solutions to off-premise and hosted solutions by companies every day! The clouds benefited me directly by making my job easier. Being able to access all my servers with almost no latency, from the comfort of a hotel room or maybe even in bed at 3am, from any device, and manage everything from easy to use control panels, just gives me more time to concentrate on other things. The hours I've wasted sitting in cold Server rooms installing Windows Operating systems and physically racking servers is not something I ever want to do again. The cloud makes this dream a reality for me. I'm all about the cloud.
We’re all about the cloud too! ;) Aside from our cloud, what do you like about Rackspace the most?
I'm a big fan of the managed and dedicated server hosting from Rackspace. It's always reliable. Its so convenient being able to quickly provision a server with Rackspace, get all my IIS configs and websites FTp'ed up on there, and then have it live in less time than it takes me to make lunch. All the nuisance stuff like firewall configs and security is all handled, and knowing its all backed up & secure is a massive piece of mind!
Remind me again how long you’ve been a Rackspace customer?
I've either inherited Rackspace solutions or signed up for new Rackspace solutions for the last decade at least. I find the support given by 'The Racker's to be pretty awesome and overall, consistent (which is really important from a commercial point of view). I like how they take time to get to know your environment so when you call for support, upgrades or maintenence, they understand 'you' and not just the products you’re consuming. I believe Rackspace still represents one of the best providers worldwide if you’re looking at Enterprise class hosted infrastructure & services.
Thanks for the shoutout for our #FanaticalSupport! What made you choose us in the first place?
There's no doubt its seemingly easy to duplicate what Rackspace do on the surface, to a small budget, using either your own kit in a Data Centre or maybe with a cheaper domestic supplier, but as an IT Manager, sometimes you just want to pay that little bit extra knowing you'll get exhaustive support and the Infrastructure itself with be reliable. I think Rackspace do a good job of showing what the 'cloud' is, and providing a solid service. Easy support, easy solutions, it just works!
How much of a difference has our #FanaticalSupport made to you?
The companies where I've had Rackspace solutions, the support has always been great. Day or night, its been a god send to know if servers are down, help is only a call away. Sometimes a lone IT Manager needs help and I feel I get that with Rackspace. Each engineer seems genuinely knowledgeable and seems to care a great deal about taking ownership of the case, and I admit I can be a nightmare customer when I'm under pressure - Rackspace understands, empathises and helps. I appreciate it a lot. I'm always happy to shout about companies who provide great support.
Amazing. Thanks for sharing your Rackspace story with us, Mario!
If you would like to share your Rackspace story, send an email to twitter@rackspace.co.uk.
