Rackspace also announced a new business alliance with Internap (AMEX: IIP), the market leader for intelligent route-control solutions, and together the companies will provide hosting and network performance solutions for all of Atari`s consumer-facing Web and selected intranet sites.
"We sought a managed hosting provider that shared our own philosophy of strong customer service and support," said Glenn Magala, vice-president of Management Information Systems for Atari. "We were looking for a partner that could meet our expected growth requirements and had solid experience with enterprise Linux. Rackspace met those needs, and its alliance with Internap helped solidify our decision."
Rackspace hosts more than 20 Web servers that handle Atari`s entire global network of external-facing sites, as well as some Atari intranet services. Atari uses Web-based resources to market, sell and support its 1 000-title catalogue of popular franchises. Consumers visit Atari Web sites to find games by platform and genre, to access demos and free downloads and to access a range of Atari player community resources.
"Atari is respected as the pioneering name in interactive gaming and is the developer of many of today`s most popular titles," said Glenn Reinus, senior vice-president of Worldwide Sales, Rackspace Managed Hosting. "As such, Atari recognised early on the importance of Web-based marketing and support for its global customer base, and the need for an absolutely reliable Web infrastructure to support those online channels."
Rackspace provides Atari with a fully managed hosting solution built upon Dell PowerEdge servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux, complete with multiple firewalls, load balancers and a storage area network. Atari now uses the Linux open source operating system almost exclusively for its Web-based operations, and cited Rackspace`s experience with enterprise-class Linux applications as a key reason for choosing the managed hosting company.
Additionally, Rackspace and Internap have formed a new business alliance to target the enterprise marketplace for mission-critical, Web-based applications where bullet-proof infrastructure is vital. The partnership includes a joint referral and marketing agreement between the two companies.
"The combination of Rackspace hosting and exceptional customer service, along with intelligent routing solutions from Internap, gives Atari a tremendously efficient and reliable Internet infrastructure solution," said Dave Abrahamson, vice-president of sales at Internap. "We view our alliance with Rackspace as an opportunity to bring faster, smarter and more secure Internet performance to enterprise-class companies, and Atari is a perfect example of how that can work."
Internap provides Atari a direct gigabit connection to the Internet and uses Rackspace`s tier-one, multi-homed network as a failover solution. Additionally, Rackspace implemented the Internap Flow Control Platform for its high-performance network services. Internap FCP 5000 devices have been installed at Rackspace`s network facilities in Texas and Virginia, helping Rackspace boost its network performance by as much as 20% to 40%, while also giving them more control over their bandwidth costs.
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Internap is the market leader of intelligent route-control solutions that bring reliability, performance and security to the Internet. The company`s patented and patent-pending technology address the inherent weaknesses of the Internet, enabling enterprises to take full advantage of the benefits of deploying business-critical applications such as e-commerce, voice over IP (VOIP), video conferencing, and streaming audio/video across the Internet.
Through a portfolio of high-performance IP solutions, customers can bypass congestion points, overcome routing inefficiencies and optimise performance of their applications. Internap solutions are backed by an industry-leading performance guarantee that covers the entire Internet as opposed to just one network. These offerings include: network- and premise-based route optimisation solutions, co-location, VPN, content distribution, managed security and managed storage services. Internap currently serves more than 1 800 customers including the Fortune 1000 and mid-tier enterprises in the financial services, government; travel/hospitality, manufacturing, media/entertainment, technology and retail industries. The company provides services throughout the US, UK and Japan. For more information, please visit www.internap.com.
Rackspace Managed Hosting
Founded in 1998 with locations in Europe and the US, Rackspace Managed Hosting provides its award-winning managed hosting services and unique brand of customer service, Fanatical Support, to a broad range of enterprises. Focusing exclusively on managed hosting, Rackspace supplies the necessary infrastructure - servers, software, bandwidth and management - needed to run almost any hosted solution.
The company`s philosophy of Fanatical Support has made Rackspace one of the fastest growing companies in the world. 2003 was Rackspace Managed Hosting Europe`s best year yet, with a turnover growth of 140% and the average revenue per customer going up by 33%, it now has more than 1 000 customers.
Rackspace has received numerous industry awards for its Fanatical Support including the prestigious Learning Organisation Award from the Unisys Customer Service Excellence Awards 2003. For more information, visit www.rackspace.co.za or call 0800 085 3973.
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