Rackspace launches cloud consultancy service following restructure
Rackspace is betting on the multi-cloud boom with the launch of a new business division aimed at delivering professional services as it moves away from its original cloud platform business.
The San Antonio, Texas-based company said its new Global Solutions and Services (GSS) division will provide customers with expertise and support to move their workloads to public and private clouds.
Rackspace boasted in a blog post that it has earned "the highest level of partner certification from Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure", adding that it recently established a strategic partnership with Google Cloud. Customers will also be able to choose from private clouds powered by VMware, Microsoft, and OpenStack.
"As more businesses look to move IT operations out of the datacentre, they recognize that they need help transitioning to multi-cloud models," Rachel Cassidy, vice president of GSS at Rackspace, said in a statement.
"In response to customer demand, we're expanding our managed cloud portfolio to offer professional services not only to the SMB and mid-market customers we have served for nearly two decades, but also to our fast-growing stable of enterprise customers."
The news follows Rackspace's decision to cut its US workforce by 6 percent, with smaller reductions announced in offices in other countries based on "consultative processes governed by local laws".
The layoffs came three months after the company went under private management, following a $4.3 billion deal with private equity firm Apollo Global Management.
Rackspace started focusing on customer support services last year after it had trouble competing as a cloud provider against major companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
The company's CEO Taylor Rhodes said previously that going private has given Rackspace the flexibility to structure the business for long-term growth.