London, UK – 28 May 2012 – Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX), the service leader in cloud computing, today announced it has been ranked 12th at this year’s Great Place to Work awards during a ceremony in the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich. In recognition of the company’s investments in creating a winning workplace, Rackspace’s 12th position ranking on the ‘Large Company list’ is the firm’s eighth successive appearance at these prestigious annual awards.

“Cloud computing is sometimes perceived to be an invisible service that happens somewhere between a company’s server room and its internet pipe connection. As such, I am resolutely proud to say that we continue to put the human side of our service first and foremost, both in terms of what our customers see and in terms of how we work to serve our own employees in a culture that champions people, skills and job satisfaction from the start,” said Taylor Rhodes, Rackspace Managing Director, International.

Rackspace serves some of the biggest consumer and business brands on the planet, hosting cloud services for companies such as Domino’s, Vodafone, Sage and many more. Keeping service levels to a maximum under Rackspace’s Fanatical Support promise while constantly nurturing an employee empowerment culture that makes people want to get up for work in the morning is, most would argue, no mean feat in today’s challenging world economic climate.

As a company at the forefront of modern working practices, Rackspace insists upon finding and recruiting the right new Rackers as the company continues to grow and expand. All Rackers are encouraged to be individuals and contribute to improving how they work and how they manage their roles in general. The company provides a fun environment and consistently looks for ways to keep employees motivated and excited by their jobs.

The UK’s Best Workplaces Awards is run by the Great Place to Work® Institute, a global research and management consultancy that helps organisations identify, create and sustain great workplaces through the development of high-trust workplace cultures. More than 5,500 organisations are currently involved in the global Best Workplaces Programme, making it the largest of its kind. The Great Place to Work® Institute conducts programmes in 48 countries, including 18 in Europe. 

This year 75 organisations in the UK have been recognised for being great places to work – large, medium or small. These organisations have met the Great Place to Work Institutes three requirements for a great workplace: Employees trust their management; Employees take pride in what they do; Employees enjoy working with their colleagues. 

Tom O’Byrne, Chief Executive of Great Place to Work Institute UK, says: “I am delighted to congratulate all our winners on their achievement and thank their leaders for continuing to champion the importance of trust in the workplace. In the current economic climate, it has never been more crucial for organisations to recognise the importance of creating and maintaining great workplace cultures and the impact this can have on business performance.”

Chas Narula, Channel Racker, sums it up: “It’s brilliant to walk to your desk on your first day to find balloons and a welcome card signed by everyone in your team- that really is emblematic of the underlying feeling you get throughout your time at Rackspace. The atmosphere is infectious and I can honestly say that it only takes a few days to become really excited about your role and what you want to achieve. It’s clear that upon joining, the values are embedded in the organisation and you soon come to realise that the success of Rackspace is a result of a seamless blend between hard work and fun.”

ENDS

About Rackspace
Rackspace Hosting is the service leader in cloud computing, and a founder of OpenStack™, the open source cloud operating system. Rackspace provides Fanatical Support® to its customers and partners across a portfolio of IT services, including Dedicated Cloud, Public Cloud and Hybrid Hosting. Rackspace has been recognized by Bloomberg BusinessWeek as a Top 100 Performing Technology Company and was featured on Sunday Times ‘Best Companies to Work For’ list. The company was also positioned in the Leaders Quadrant by Gartner Inc. in the “2011 Magic Quadrant for Managed Hosting.” For more information, visit www.rackspace.co.uk.

Forward Looking Statements 
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 about historical results or third party data that may suggest trends for our business or industry; any statements of the plans, strategies, and objectives of Rackspace for future operations or growth; any statements of expectation or belief regarding future events, and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the items mentioned. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the possibility that expected growth or success may not materialize because of Rackspace's failure to sustain a culture that inspires employees to provide Fanatical Support, failure to execute on its operational plans, rapid technological changes that adversely affect the demand for Rackspace products and services, shifts in customer demand, customers' and potential customers' acceptance of Rackspace products and services, and other risks that are described in Rackspace Hosting's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, filed with the SEC on May 9, 2012. 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. 
 
For more information, please contact:
Brooke Hamilton, +442087342574
brooke.hamilton@rackspace.co.uk