Rackspace Supports 2.5 Million American Idol Online Votes

Case Study: World Digital leader relies on Rackspace AKQA (www.akqa.com) is the world’s number one digital agency, delivering incredibly complex and exciting interactive experiences and vibrant customer relationship management along with strategic consulting, branding and pretty well anything that starts with an ‘e’. The company connects ideas and innovation to deliver award-winning results for the worlds leading brands. A key factor in any online business is the final delivery of the creative work. Even the best digital marketing campaign can be destroyed by slow delivery. An unreliable

server or serious bandwidth restrictions due to massive demand, all highlight the importance of having the right hosting partner.

The right hosting structure. Ben Jones is the UK Technical Director for AKQA. “About five years ago we realised the importance of having the right hosting partner. We had been using internal resources and still operate small managed hosting operations, but as the market has developed we quickly realised that bringing a major project to fruition with the velocity that is demanded and keeping it live 24/7 needed huge resource, massive support and constant monitoring.

We do not have the desire to become a specialist hosting company – our expertise is in the creation and delivery of highly successful digital solutions for major clients like Nokia, Xbox, Unilever, Microsoft, Nike, Orange, Sainsbury's and Sky. At this time we looked at the managed hosting market in some detail, researching potential long-term hosting partners and discovered Rackspace®. That was four years ago and we have not looked back since.”

Guiding Philosophy. Jones revealed, “The key to the success of the Rackspace / AKQA relationship has been their devotion and adherence to Fanatical Support® - their mantra and guiding philosophy. Rackspace has become a vital member of our team and we now view them as a critical business partner rather than a supplier, much in the same way as we have operating partnerships with Microsoft®, Sun and Oracle®.”

Technology advisers
Jones went on to say, “Our decision to host with Rackspace has paid huge dividends. They have become a major technology provider and now help us directly with the specification, building and set up of appropriate customised servers, load balancing and secure firewall protection for each client campaign website or online application. World Digital leader relies on Rackspace We work together; experts and technologists detailing and recommending the most appropriate solution for each application. You only have to look at a client like 19 Entertainment to realise the scope and importance of getting this right.”