Website Hosting News – SAN ANTONIO – Organizations deploying OpenStack™, the open source cloud operating system, can now receive formal service and support offerings from Rackspace® Hosting (NYSE: RAX), the world’s leading specialist in the hosting and cloud computing industry. Rackspace today announced Rackspace Cloud Builders, a new business that will offer training and certification, deployment services, and ongoing support to enterprises and service providers through its team of OpenStack experts and its network of technology industry leaders. For the first time, Rackspace will extend its commitment to customer service, known as Fanatical Support®, beyond the company’s datacenters to stand behind any OpenStack cloud deployment.

A still from a Rackspace video offering information on Cloud Builders (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting provider Rackspace ( www.rackspace.com ) announced on Tuesday that it has launched a new division, Cloud Builders, to provide service and support to businesses deploying clouds on the OpenStack platform ( www.openstack.org ) – an open-source cloud infrastructure platform developed in large part by Rackspace. The company says the new service will extend its well-regarded support services outside its own data centers for the first time, providing training and certification, deployment services and ongoing support to any OpenStack deployment. In an interview with the WHIR, VP of marketing and business development for Rackspace Cloud Builders, Mike Collier, says the model is similar to Red Hat’s offering of support for Linux, without the creation of a specific flavor of the software.

An artist rendering of Rackspace’s new office (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) – UK Web hosting provider Rackspace ( www.rackspace.co.uk ) announced on Monday that it has been named the 33rd best place to work in the UK in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies Awards 2011 and is the highest placed IT services company on the list. According to the press release, Rackspace also received the Innovation in Engagement Practice award “for creating a transparent and engaging place to work.”  This is the sixth year that the company has been awarded a best place to work in the UK, and is the second consecutive year that Rackspace achieved the highest ranking IT service organization in the medium-sized company category. “I think this award shows that we are prepared to back up our technology proposition with serious investment in our people,” David Kelly, UK MD and senior vice president, international at Rackspace said in a statement

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An image from the website of Terremark’s under-construction NAP of Amsterdam (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — According to a post this week on Data Center Dynamics , Verizon ( www.verizon.com ) has already revealed big plans for its role in the cloud computing space, and plans to pursue those objectives aggressively, following the recent news that it would acquire Terremark for $1.4 billion , though that deal has yet to close. In an interview with Data Center Dynamics, Verizon regional VP of Enterprise, Cloud and IT Services for Europe, David Howorth, said the company is already laying out plans to capitalize on the scale – in data center space and networking – that the acquisition will bring to the company. Verizon’s cloud computing capabilities applied to Terremark’s data center infrastructure, he says, will enable the company to introduce a full set of cloud computing services.

A screen shot of Anso Labs’ partnering companies page (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting provider Rackspace ( www.rackspace.com ) announced last week it acquired cloud computing developer Anso Labs ( www.ansolabs.com ), the developer of NASA Nebula Cloud and a main contributor to OpenStack. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed

Rackspace CEO Lanham Napier told Forbes that the company has no plans of selling (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — A Sunday post on the Forbes blog quotes Lanham Napier, CEO of hosting provider Rackspace ( www.rackspace.com ) as saying the company is “not for sale,” in the wake of some speculation around further consolidation in the hosting business. The interview was conducted last week, in the context of the recent acquisitions of Terremark, by Verizon, and of NaviSite, by Time Warner Cable, which accelerated the pace of consolidation in the data center and hosting market, and certainly fueled some speculation about further acquisitions, with Rackspace being one of the attractive operations in that market. With speculation related to a possible acquisition (though not to a specific rumor) driving Rackspace shares upward somewhat following those deals, a Kaufman Bros analyst lowered his rating on the company , warning that the shares, while still good, might be temporarily over-valued

Rackspace CEO Lanham Napier told Forbes that the company has no plans of selling (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — A Sunday post on the Forbes blog quotes Lanham Napier, CEO of hosting provider Rackspace ( www.rackspace.com ) as saying the company is “not for sale,” in the wake of some speculation around further consolidation in the hosting business. The interview was conducted last week, in the context of the recent acquisitions of Terremark, by Verizon, and of NaviSite, by Time Warner Cable, which accelerated the pace of consolidation in the data center and hosting market, and certainly fueled some speculation about further acquisitions, with Rackspace being one of the attractive operations in that market. With speculation related to a possible acquisition (though not to a specific rumor) driving Rackspace shares upward somewhat following those deals, a Kaufman Bros analyst lowered his rating on the company , warning that the shares, while still good, might be temporarily over-valued.

Lanham Napier: Expecting a cloud burst. Could the cloud computing consolidation wave engulf Rackspace (RAX) ? Not if CEO Lanham Napier has any thing to say about it.

An image from Yahoo Finance, showing Rackspace’s stock performance over the last six months (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — In its fourth quarter earnings report, released this week, managed hosting provider Rackspace ( www.rackspace.com ) revealed that its chief financial officer Bruce Knooihuizen plans to retire, though he says he will stay with the company until a replacement has been found. The company said it would conduct an extensive internal and external search to replace the 55-year-old Knooihuizen, who joined the company as CFO in 2008.