Pollenizer initiates momentum as first Australian incubator to join

October 13, 2011, Sydney - Rackspace® Hosting(NYSE: RAX), the service leader in IT hosting and cloud computing,  has evidenced its firm commitment towards entrepreneurship that leverages cloud computing technologies by announcing the Australia and New Zealand launch of its zero cost Rackspace Startup Program, with local firm Pollenizer being the first incubator to join.
 
The Rackspace Startup Program provides free cloud hosting and support services to local incubators thatwant to encourage their startup companies to use the cloud computing model of IT service delivery. With cloud computing's inherent flexibility and elasticity, there is a clearly identifiable route for startups who will want to optimise business productivity on the path to internal growth and business expansion.
 
"Startups have a multiplicity of commercially sensitive factors to juggle that they need to manage - from strategic planning and business development, to back end programming and IT systems development. Rackspace wants to make life easier for these new ventures. As such, we're offering our cloud services and support to specially-selected incubators and their startup companies for free in an effort to build relationships and grow with them all as they continue to develop and expand," said Jim Fagan, VP and Managing Director, Rackspace APAC.
 
"Rackspace itself began as a startup in 1998 and has always taken a proactive approach towards assisting entrepreneurs and enterprises of all sizes," said Mark Randall, Country Manager, Rackspace Australia & New Zealand. "Rackspace likes to refer to information technology as the "Fifth Utility" because cloud computing has now made IT accessible to everyone, everywhere. An individual can now start a company without the pain of high capital expenditure costs upfront whether they are located in Perth or Sydney. Business dollars can instead be directed towards important business tasks and research and development projects.
 
Pollenizer, a Sydney-based web business investor and builder, is the first Australian partner to sign up for the Rackspace Startup Program. The company undertakes a qualitative and quantitative analysis of each potential new startup and then makes a decision as to whether they are suitable for induction into the program.
 
"We are very pleased to have joined Rackspace's startup initiative. It allows local companies, which we believe in, to concentrate on their core businesses without having to worry about their IT infrastructure. The Rackspace Startup Program is an amazing program and allows everyone involved to get to know each other and flourish as we assist these growing businesses in every way we can," said Phil Morle, of Pollenizer.
 
Pollenizer builds and invests in Australian web start-ups. The Sydney-based team is made of 80 web-loving entrepreneurs, covering all aspects of a web business, and tightly integrates customer and product development to build fast and focused results. Pollenizer has successfully built up a high-profile portfolio of companies, including mogeneration, Posse, 99dresses and Spreets.
 
Australian or New Zealand incubators interested in the Rackspace Startup Program are asked to apply online http://www.rackspacestartups.com or e-mail Apac.Marketing@Rackspace.com.
 
Program partners around the world include Y Combinator,500 Startups, TechStars, General Assembly, Capital Factory, Dreamit Ventures, FirstMark, FundedBuy, ATI IC2, Collaborative Fund, StartX, NewME, FounderFuel, The Next 36, andMassChallenge.

For any press-related questions, please contact Mark Randall at mark.randall@rackspace.com or +61 (0)2 8249 4360.
 
About Rackspace:
Rackspace Hosting is the service leader in cloud computing, and the founder of OpenStack, an open source cloud platform. Rackspace provides Fanatical Support to its customers, across a portfolio of IT services, including Managed Hosting and Cloud Computing. In 2010, Rackspace was positioned in the Leaders Quadrant by Gartner Inc. in the "2010 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service and Web Hosting. For more information, visit http://www.rackspace.com.au.

For more information about today's release, or the "Total Solution" package, please contact Cecilia Lau, Senior Marketing Manager, Rackspace APAC at Cecilia.Lau@Rackspace.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

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