April 3, 2009 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) –
Rackspace® Hosting (NYSE:RAX) today announced the naming of Chief Strategy Officer Lew Moorman as President of the company's cloud business. In his new role, Moorman is responsible for bringing Fanatical Support® to Rackspace's efforts into their cloud hosting model that meets customer needs and maintains Rackspace's hosting market leadership.
"Cloud Computing and the Paradigm Shift That's Coming in IT"
As the CSO of Rackspace, Moorman's responsibilities have included the development, marketing and management of new products and services. Most recently, Moorman has focused on the company's entrance into both the cloud hosting and cloud applications spaces by spearheading the launch of The Rackspace Cloud (formerly Mosso) and driving the acquisitions of webmail.us, now the backbone of Rackspace's Cloud Applications division, and, more recently, Slicehost and Jungle Disk. He has helped pave the way for Rackspace to emerge as a leader in cloud computing.
"As our CSO, Lew helped guide Rackspace into many new territories, most notably cloud computing," said Lanham Napier, president and CEO, Rackspace Hosting. "He is able to visualize the future for both our customers and our company. Cloud hosting and cloud applications are extremely important to us and that is why we're putting Lew at the helm of these two strategic businesses."
In October 2008, Rackspace announced its cloud hosting strategy at the Rackspace Cloud Event. Since the event and the acquisitions of Slicehost and Jungle Disk, the Cloud Business has seen momentum with several new product launches and integrations, customer acquisitions and additions to its leadership team.
Rackspace's cloud business consists of two divisions, Cloud Hosting, also known as Mosso | The Rackspace Cloud, and Cloud Applications. Led by Emil Sayegh, General Manager, The Rackspace Cloud is the company's fastest growing division, hosting hundreds of thousands of websites and applications for over 16,000 customers. The Rackspace Cloud provides on-demand scalable website, application and storage hosting through its suite of cloud solutions - Cloud Sitesâ„¢, Cloud Filesâ„¢ and Cloud Serversâ„¢. At the core of the Cloud Application division is Mailtrust, led by Pat Mathews, General Manager and Founder. Mailtrust is home to over one million mailboxes and provides email and communication services allowing companies to focus on their core business strategies.
"Cloud computing is the next step for business hosting and brings a whole new set of challenges and opportunities for Rackspace. Our investments in these new technologies have yielded strong results and we think the future model of hybrid hosting, the use of traditional hosting and cloud computing along with our trademark Fanatical Support will be a great combination for our customers" said Moorman. "I am privileged to lead incredible teams in this important endeavor for Rackspace."
Prior to joining Rackspace in 2000, Moorman held several positions at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, advising a variety of technology firms. Moorman holds a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Moorman is speaking at this week's Web 2.0 Expo in New York City on the topic of cloud computing. He will be participating in two speaking sessions on April 2, the first is a panel discussion titled "Cloud Operations is The New Killer Job" from 11:00 - 11:50 a.m. PT and the other session is "Cloud Computing and the Paradigm Shift That's Coming in IT" held from 3:50 - 4:40 p.m. PT.
As the leader and specialist in hosting services, Rackspace® Hosting is changing the way businesses worldwide buy IT. Rackspace delivers computing-as-a-service, integrating the industry's best technologies into a flexible service offering, making computing more reliable and affordable. A trusted partner to companies of all sizes, Rackspace enables IT departments to be more effective. Rackspace is distinguished by its award-winning Fanatical Support®, furthering the company's mission to be one of the world's greatest service companies. Rackspace is recognized as one of FORTUNE Magazine's 100 Best companies to work for in the US, ranking number 43 on the list. Rackspace's portfolio of hosted IT services includes managed hosting (www.rackspace.com), email hosting (www.mailtrust.com) and cloud hosting (www.mosso.com). For more information on Rackspace Hosting please visit www.rackspace.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of Rackspace Hosting could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including any statements concerning anticipated operational and financial benefits, strategies related to additions or changes in leadership, the success of leadership transition, company growth or success of new business initiatives, any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the integration and effectiveness of new leadership, the continuation of the current difficult economic conditions or further fluctuations, disruptions, instability or downturns in the economy, the effectiveness of managing company growth, infrastructure failures, technological and competitive factors, regulatory factors, and other risks that are described in Rackspace Hosting's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, filed with the SEC on March 2, 2009. Except as required by law, Rackspace Hosting assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
