Rackspace is now a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Distributor
Rackspace, a cloud hosting provider in San Antonio, Texas, has recently announced that it has now partnered with Microsoft to become a 2-Tier distributor the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider. Rackspace already has a long 14-year history of working with Microsoft, as 5-time winner of Microsoft’s Hosting Partner of the Year.
The new partnership is officially named the Rackspace Reseller and Referral Fanatical Support for Azure and Office 365 and has been made available immediately to Cloud Solution Provider members based in the United States. This 2-Tier channel partnership allows those in the Rackspace Partner Network to become resellers of Microsoft Azure, as well as, Office 365. Unlike 1-Tier resellers, which buy licenses directly from Microsoft, a 2-Tier reseller allows customers to purchase from 2-Tier distributors instead. Rackspace has already been a 1-Tier Cloud Solution Provider partner with Microsoft since last year, allowing them to sell directly to end users.
Microsoft has set its sights on increasing its activities involving channel partners as a way to accelerate cloud adoption. A major topic at this year’s Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference was how Microsoft can work closely with the company’s CSP partners to push for further cloud adoption.
Rackspace joins other 2-Tier distributors such as Ingram Micro. Less than 10 hosting providers offer Microsoft’s cloud suite globally. However, Rackspace stands out even more from the already small crowd with its distribution options. Rackspace’s services come bundled with technical support from in-house Microsoft Certified Professionals.
Rackspace has been a valuable customer with RackSolutions since 2006. Rackspace approached RackSolutions to help find a solution to increase the server capacity per square foot in their data centers. “Engineers visited Rackspace’s datacenter in Ashburn, Virginia to evaluate the needs of their facility,” says RackSolutions sales manager Roger Baldwin. RackSolutions was tasked with designing a taller rack which resulted in the 55U Open Frame Rack, providing datacenters with 30% more vertical room than a traditional 42U rack. This helped spark a long term relationship with the hosting company. “To this day we continue to work together to resolve the issues that affect Rackspace as well as the rest of the industry.”
