Cloud computing has been a buzzword tossed around within the last year, but in the plans for much longer. The idea of cloud computing basically takes files and applications typically native to your hard drive and placing them in the Internet “ether” for users to retrieve on a need basis.
Google has taken great steps to place files in the cloud with apps such as Google Calendar and Google Documents. Amazon has taken strides to offer cloud services and currently leads the market in the cloud-computing sector. While critics will debate the pros and cons of cloud computing, suffice to say that companies are making the move, and just recently Microsoft has taken that step with Azure, which will be discussed in another post.
Two weeks ago, Rackspace managed to host a major event in Austin, TX to announce their movement to the cloud. Rackspace is already a leader in the hosting industry, and now with the cloud computing additions, looks to tackle the market that Amazon has held for a number of years.
The announcement was kicked off by sharing the two companies that Rackspace had acquired to move them closer to full coverage in the cloud, Jungledisk and Slicehost. These two acquisitions fulfill the comprehensive portfolio of services that Rackspace offers to coincide with their hosting services.
According to the Rackspace blog, “Rackspace’s cloud strategy is supported by three core offerings…” These three core areas are:
- Clouds Sites: This is Rackspace’s flagship offering, which offers customers the ability to handle huge spikes in traffic with an easy to use and follow pay-as-you-go strategy. Currently there is support for both Windows and Linux.
- Cloud Files: The idea behind this initiative is to offer developers unlimited storage possibilities with a full scalable service to fit all of their needs. No longer will data need to be stored locally cutting costs for companies by avoiding the high cost of computer hardware.
- Cloud Servers: This new service option for offer on demand hosting services for businesses of all sizes. Using Slicehost as the company’s developer brand, Rackspace will utilize the Xen virtualization software to create innovative new features that will merge Slicehost intellectual property with Rackspace’s development initiatives. The goal is to offer low prices to keep the concept as an attractive and affordable option.
The services will be handled by a subsidiary of Rackspace called Mosso, which is their software development arm. You can catch the rebroadcast this major announcement at RackspaceCloudEvent.com
In the last few days you might have noticed we have been having some technical issues here at Crenk. This is due to us trying to migrate all our information to another hosting company. This has now been achieved and everything should resume as normal. If you have any issues or have tried to send an email in the last few days, and havent got through, please just drop me another email.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Rackspace for helping us with the migration!
Thank
Crenk Team
Rackspace(R) Managed Hosting today warns that the record increase in online spending this Christmas will put unforeseen pressure on website infrastructures. Consumers are looking to get the best last minute deals shopping in the convenience of their own home or at work, rather than on the high street for the highly coveted top sellers such as the Nintendo Wii, and the recent rush of retro comebacks such as Transformers, the Spice Girls and Led Zeppelin.
Recent research, carried out by the Social Issues Research Centre and Rackspace Managed Hosting showed that 62% of respondents rated high speed as the most important factor in an ideal site. Therefore organisations must review their web hosting requirements to pre-empt loss of business due to a poorly performing website.
Fabio Torlini, Marketing Director, Rackspace, commented, “This festive season will see the heaviest levels of online traffic yet as discerning customers scour the Web to get the best value for money. In this exceedingly competitive online marketplace, where profit margins are at its tightest and the health of the overall retail economy uncertain, the difference between closing or losing a sale could literally be a matter of seconds. The slightest delay in navigating a website could cause a customer to make the purchase at a competing site – a situation online retailers can ill afford at a time when the shopping frenzy is at its peak.”
Shoppers have already demonstrated their online spending power as over £750,000 was spent in under a minute on online purchases according to payment processing company, Retail Decisions, underpinning reports from eDigitalResearch that online sales for the last three months of this year will hit a record £17.6bn, up 82 per cent on 2006.
At about lunch time in the UK I received an email from Rackspace. Not too long ago I was looking for a new web host for our group and Rackspace was one of the companies I approached. Rackspace was emailing me about possibly moving our business over to their hosting service and what they might be able to offer to make this happen. I thought this was very nice of them and was amazed that they even got back to me.
The email that was send was from their sales department and then after the first one I received every ten minutes after there was an identical email send to me. Rackspace SPAMMING ME! This happened for about an hour after the first email and it only seemed to stop when I sent them an email saying “stop spamming me!”
Rackspace have to be one of the leaders in the USA for medium level web hosting, so why do they have to go to the extent of spamming potential customers to gain more business? This will only hurt them!
Tonight I can across a very interesting website, WhoIsHostingThis.com. The website seems to allow you to search any site in the world and it will tell you which hosting company they use. It is not the most useful site in the world but it can be very interesting at times. Some hosting companies on the net claim to have testimonials from certain companies and now you can see if those companies still use the hosting service they recommend.
There are companies in most fields these days that are famous in the same sense as a celebrity, for example GoDaddy.com in domain registration, everyone knows who GoDaddy is. Currently who is the leader in Celeb for Hosting?
