Rackspace Inc. has rebranded as Rackspace Technology to reflect its focus as a multi-cloud technology solutions provider. Take a closer look, and perhaps the private equity-owned company is inching closer to an eventual IPO (initial public offering) -- economy permitting.
No doubt, Rackspace has evolved quite a bit from its early days as a managed hosting service provider. After a bumpy attempt as a public cloud services provider (CSP), the company went private in 2016 and refocused as an MSP that supports multiple third-party clouds -- including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and plenty more.
Private equity firm Apollo Global Management has owned Rackspace since that 2016 go-private transaction.
Rackspace TechnologyToday
Fast forward to present day. Following multiple tuck-in acquisitions plus organic R&D (research and development), Rackspace Technology now focuses on four core market opportunities:
- Cloud Optimization, which Rackspace says empowers customers to improve costs and performance for a changing market while delivering the experience their end customers demand.
- Cloud Security, which the company says provides customers with expert security and compliance services for the enterprise and the cloud.
- Cloud Native Enablement, which Rackspace says accelerates multicloud transformation with cloud native application, data, and security built in a DevOps culture.
- Data Modernization, which the company says helps customers make predictive, data-driven decisions that accelerate innovation and increase ROI leveraging modern data analytics.
Roll all that together, and Rackspace ranks among the world's Top 200 Public Cloud MSPs, according to ChannelE2E research.
Executive Perspectives
In a prepared statement about the new corporate moniker, Rackspace CEO Kevin Jones said:
“Our technical acumen with the world’s leading cloud technologies – across apps, data and security – empowers our customers to build new revenue streams, increase efficiency, and create incredible experiences. Our new name, mission and multicloud solutions better represent the full value we bring to market. Our mission is simple. Embrace technology. Empower customers. Deliver the future.”
The company's new boilerplate includes this concise business description:
"Rackspace Technology is the multicloud solutions expert. We combine our expertise with the world’s leading technologies- across applications, data and security- to deliver end-to-end solutions. We have a proven record of advising customers based on their business challenges, designing solutions that scale, building and managing those solutions, and optimizing returns into the future."
Eventual Rackspace IPO?
So what's next? Rumors about Rackspace potentially pursuing a $10 billion IPO pop up from time to time. Admittedly, those rumors have died down a bit amid the coronavirus pandemic and associated economic fallout. Still, Apollo Global Management needs an eventual exit. So we'll be watching closely for any renewed IPO signals.
