Rackspace now another option for moving VMware workloads
Organisations that are still relying on their in-house datacentres have been given another option to go with Rackspace, with the company announcing on Tuesday that it will now support single-tenant VMware vCenter servers.
The service means that enterprise customers that are considering moving VMware workloads to an OpenStack-based cloud will be able to do so, while still being able to use the existing tools they are used to.
Rackspace Asia-Pacific CTO Alan Perkins told ZDNet that although the move was not necessarily a massive technological feat, the company wanted to provide as much choice to the marketplace as possible.
Perkins said that existing customers had been asking for the service for some time, and that it will provide existing and potential customers with greater freedom for whichever cloud topology they choose.
While Perkins said he expects that the new service would result in more revenue for Rackspace, he admitted that it opens the possibility for the loss of existing customers.
"We really are pushing the notion that people should not be locked in to any particular vendor. The implications of that will be that yes, we will possibly lose some clients," he said.
"You really have to be able to provide customers with that ability to come and go, and I think that's a really important thing."
But he is also confident of the Rackspace's ability to gain customers because of it.
Perkins said that Rackspace's "Fanatical Support" would win customers over, telling ZDNet that he had considered it as marketing hype prior to joining the company, but has since realised that it is core to Rackspace's success.
"That's where the company feels that it's going to maintain clients and win this game."
Concerns over the company's future relevance in the cloud market due to Amazon Web Services' pricing pressures were allayed earlier this month, with Rackspace reporting better-than-expected Q2 results.
It also recently began offering a public cloud service in Australia in June this year, attracting online retailer Kogan as its first customer. Last year, RackSpace opened its Erskine Park datacentre, and is the first facility for the company in Australia.