PAC interview with Rackspace Technology DACH

Rackspace Technology looks back on a more than 25-year journey. In the early days, the company was known as a provider of hosting products and as the co-developer, together with NASA, of the popular open-source cloud computing platform OpenStack.

Today, the company positions itself as an ”end-to-end hybrid, multicloud, and AI technology services company that designs, builds, and operates its customers’ cloud environments across all major technology platforms, irrespective of technology stack or deployment model and with security in mind”.  

What does that mean? PAC had the pleasure to speak with the VP & General Manager DACH of Rackspace Technology Germany, Jürgen Stauber, about Rackspace Technology’s positioning and offerings.

The full interview is available on the SITSI® platform as a PAC Q&A document in English and German.

Rackspace Technology’s positioning and go-to-market can be summarized as follows:

• Rackspace Technology complements its experience in private cloud hosting and managed services with extensive plan-build-operate services for the three major public cloud platforms from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
• Its global reach spans 40 interconnected data centers worldwide, broad IP related to the automation of solution management and support, as well as two security operations centers.
• Rackspace Technology’s “workload-aware cloud modernization” approach focuses on understanding the specifics of application and data workloads as well as customers’ desired business outcomes to find the right “home” for a workload in the cloud.
• The company supports customers in assessing the CMO (current mode of operation) and defining the FMO (future mode of operation), helps customers set out their cloud strategy along clearly defined KPIs and targets, and supports them in establishing the necessary cloud competencies. This comprises a well-connected cost optimization and automation strategy.
• Secure distributed cloud platforms, supported by the technology stacks of all three hyperscalers, also form the basis of the Foundry for AI by Rackspace Technology (FAIR™), with which the company accelerates the symbiotic, secure, and sustainable adoption of responsible AI for its customers’ outcome-driven demand.
• SAP-related cloud migrations are supported through the company’s strong partnerships, for example with SNP Schneider-Neureither & Partner, and their tools.
• Overall, Rackspace Technology considers its data-related competencies as a major differentiator for most of its offerings, whether it is workload modernization, cloud migration, AI solutions, or security.
• This also applies to sustainability services. Rackspace Technology’s “workload-aware cloud modernization” approach explicitly includes understanding the non-functional requirements of applications and data workloads that have to be modernized, including sustainability targets.
• In total, almost 6,000 Rackspace Technology employees support 100,000 customers in 120 countries in a mix of SMB/Commercial and Enterprise/Large accounts. Typical DACH clients are large and upper mid-market companies, mostly from sectors like manufacturing, automotive, retail, and financial services.

PAC’s opinion

Cloud computing is considered as one of the key requirements that organizations need to have in place to advance their digital transformation agendas. Data-centric initiatives such as analytics, AI/ML, and IoT are at the heart of most future businesses; they typically go hand in hand with cloud usage.

Although many organizations currently pursue optimization strategies with regard to their cloud spending and invest in FinOps approaches, PAC’s surveys show that most organizations are planning to spend more on cloud computing in the coming years. Accordingly, PAC expects the global public cloud market to grow from nearly €245 billion in 2024 to about €485 billion in 2028.

Most organizations use multiple cloud platforms and deployment models for different use cases and workloads; managing these complex architectures efficiently and securely is challenging. That is why PAC expects the demand for public cloud-related consulting, systems integration, and managed services to increase considerably as well, from about €146 billion in 2024 to €273 billion in 2028.

Rackspace Technology is well positioned to benefit from these developments. The provider’s portfolio covers all relevant cloud platforms and related services, and its workload-aware cloud modernization approach addresses the complexities of hybrid and multi-cloud landscapes. It does well to emphasize its data-related competencies as they are at the heart of most organizations’ modernization and transformation journeys.

In PAC’s SITSI® Vendor Rankings for hosted private cloud and public cloud managed services, Rackspace Technology ranks among the top players, both worldwide and in EMEA. Moreover, cloud-related consulting & systems integration services have been growing significantly.