Rackspace to offer Google Cloud Platform support after similar Azure and AWS deals

Firms touts benefits of partnership to cloud customers

Rackspace has said it will become the first managed service partner for the Google Cloud Platform (GCP), following on from similar deals it has struck with Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Set to go begin later this year the deal will mean Rackspace can help support firms cloud use on GCP around issues such as onboarding, data migration expertise, as well as ongoing operational support for customers, to help ensure optimal cloud application performance.

"The strategic relationship with Google is an exciting launch that addresses a growing market need," said Patrick Lee, general manager of the Google business at Rackspace.

"The momentum around GCP is building, and as businesses move workloads to this platform, they're looking for expertise and a support partner to help with that journey."

Benjamin Smith, director of Engineering Support for Google Cloud said the firm was happy to strike up a relationship with Rackspace as it mirrors its own focus on customer service.

"We're working with Rackspace to extend on-call engineering support to our shared customers. Rackspace already has Google Certified Professionals on staff, and we will continue to work together to roll out managed services for GCP," he added.

Underlining the benefits the partnerships can bring, Rackspace called on customer ghd to touts the benefit the deal would have.

"We're hair experts not cloud experts, so for more than 11 years we have partnered with and relied on Rackspace's expertise," said Spencer Hudson, global technical solutions manager.

"Now, with an eye to the future, we are looking at the Google Cloud Platform. Knowing that Rackspace will be available to support us means we can rest assured that while Rackspace focuses on managing our cloud infrastructure, we can concentrate on ghd's continuous product innovation and delivering great digital experiences to our customers."

The move expands Rackspace's support offering that already includes Microsoft Azure, Openstack and Amazon Web Service (AWS).