Rackspace Hosting has been selected by pizza delivery expert Domino’s Pizza to provide them with RackConnect(TM), an integrated cloud hosting and dedicated managed hosting service. The service will give Domino’s a scalable and cost-effective platform that will support the execution of the company’s ambitious growth strategy.
With over 660 stores, Domino’s is one of the largest pizza delivery companies in the UK and Ireland. Key to its success is a multichannel retail strategy, which generated a 63% increase in online revenues alone in 2010. To help drive revenue and future growth, Domino’s sought a hosting service that would meet the evolving demands of its online business, and allow its internal IT team to focus less on the maintenance of its online properties and business applications, and more on innovation.
Colin Rees, Domino’s IT Director, said: “In 2010, over a third of our UK delivered orders were taken online, so having a reliable hosting solution is essential to our continued success. I knew that we needed to outsource our hosting infrastructure if we were to remain on our current growth trajectory and keep improving our customer experience. We wanted the best of both worlds, though: the high level of security and configurability that dedicated managed hosting affords a business, and the scalability of cloud hosting. Rackspace’s RackConnect solution ticks all these boxes, and more.”
RackConnect will enable Domino’s to select which applications are placed where in the managed hosting infrastructure. For example, applications that require a high level of security, such as an internal email system, can be hosted on dedicated physical hardware. Domino’s will also be able to take advantage of the on-demand scalability of The Rackspace Cloud for developing new smartphone or tablet applications, or handling the demands of a digital marketing campaign.
David Kelly, Rackspace SVP International, said: “Domino’s Pizza is paving the way when it comes to effective e-commerce and engaging with customers online in a wide variety of ways, such as through social media or smartphone and tablet apps. It’s a thrill for us to be working with such a consistently innovative and successful company. The fact that Domino’s Pizza has chosen our game-changing RackConnect service highlights a common need amongst businesses for a hybrid hosting platform that offers them more flexibility, among other benefits.”
Domino’s new hosting platform is expected to go live in September this year. Hosted applications will include the public-facing ecommerce site www.dominos.co.uk , as well as the online payment gateway, corporate email and back-office systems, and the company intranet.
RackConnect reinforces the strength of Rackspace’s broad portfolio of services by allowing customers to combine the scalability and cost benefits of the Rackspace Cloud with the added security and configurability of dedicated managed hosting.
About Rackspace Hosting
Rackspace Hosting is the world’s leading specialist in the hosting and cloud computing industry, and the founder of OpenStack, an open source cloud platform. Rackspace provides Fanatical Support (R) to its customers, across a portfolio of IT services, including Managed Hosting and Cloud Computing. In 2011, Rackspace was recognised by the Sunday Times Best Places to Work and Financial Times Top 50 Great Place to Work in the United Kingdom for the seventh year in a row. The company was also positioned in the Leaders Quadrant by Gartner Inc. in the “2010 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service and Web Hosting. For more information, visit www.rackspace.co.uk