As Rackspace Celebrates 20 Years, One Thing Stays The Same

Last month marked 20 years since three Trinity University classmates founded a startup called Rackspace which offered a single product, Linux managed hosting. It was one of the first technology companies in San Antonio. In those 20 years, what was a private company went public and then private again. Rackspace has been a springboard for other startups and has helped launch the careers of other C-level executives not only in San Antonio and the U.S. but across the world. Rackspace is now a $2.4 billion global company, employing some 6,600 employees and serving more than 140,000 customers, including many in the Fortune 100. We offer the industry’s best portfolio of unbiased expertise and multi-cloud services. Even though I joined Rackspace just 18 months ago, I know what makes it special — we care deeply about the customer experience. Most tech companies (most companies, period) make it difficult for customers to reach a human being for customer service. Rackspace, however, decided a year after its inception to make its specialized engineers available 24/7/365, empowered with proprietary tools and automation, to give customers what we call today a Fanatical Experience. We have and always will put our customers first, keeping them front and center in all we do, while at the same time providing them with outstanding capabilities. Around that service-first ethos, a unique culture has grown. Rackers take exceptional care not only of our customers, but of each other, and the communities where we live and work. Our global, employee-led volunteer organization, Rack Gives Back, donates tens of thousands of hours each year, while our employee-funded Rackspace Foundation supports underserved students in the neighborhoods around our San Antonio headquarters. In recognition of those efforts, People magazine named Rackspace to its second annual Companies That Care list. As I look to our future, I am excited about the work we are doing that makes Rackspace a leader and trusted partner. We are working hard to help customers navigate, operate and optimize the complexities of multi-cloud that we deliver via professional and managed services globally. This continued evolution would not have happened without constant feedback from our customers, to whom I say thank you, personally and on behalf of every Racker. Nor would this evolution be possible without our Rackers, who have risen to every challenge, expanding their expertise across today’s leading technologies and those that are just emerging. I want to say thank you, and job well done, to every Racker, past and present. As I look ahead, I feel confident and energized. Our goal for the next 20 years is to be that trusted partner for more and more customers and to help them achieve their goals and drive their business outcomes. We will continue to evolve — but some things will never change, including our commitment to provide a Fanatical Experience to our customers and Rackers.