Rackspace announced its Asian headquarters and a new data center in Hong Kong on September 8, 2008. The company said it had spent two years comparing Hong Kong with Singapore, Japan and Australia, then chose Hong Kong as a regional gateway because of customer demand, connectivity, data-protection and privacy considerations, and access to mainland China. The plan called for at least $20 million in investment, leased colocation space of about 9,500 square feet, and room to expand to 18,000 square feet.
What Rackspace announced
The Hong Kong announcement added an Asian base to Rackspace’s existing network of four U.S. and three U.K. data centers. Hong Kong’s Information Services Department described the site as both the company’s Asia headquarters and a data center.
Rackspace presented the project as an expansion of its managed-hosting business for customers operating across borders. Before the Hong Kong opening, the company said it already served more than 500 Asia-Pacific customers from facilities in the United States and United Kingdom.
Lanham Napier, then Rackspace president and CEO, framed the move around customers’ geographic growth: “As our customers expand to other regions, they want a partner that will grow with them, and our expansion into Asia is an important step towards meeting our goal of becoming one of the world’s great service companies.” That statement was made in the 2008 announcement and describes the strategy at that time.
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Why Hong Kong?
Rackspace executives said the company evaluated several Asia-Pacific locations over roughly two years rather than treating Hong Kong as an automatic choice. The contemporary report identified four practical and strategic considerations.
Local customer demand
Rackspace was moving beyond customers served solely from Western facilities. Jim Fagan, managing director of Rackspace Asia, said that as the company moved “upstream” with its customer base, those customers required a global provider. A local headquarters and data center were intended to support organizations with operations or users in the region.
Connectivity
Network reach was a central part of the comparison. Fagan specifically said, “Connectivity was an issue in Australia,” explaining why Australia did not emerge as the preferred launch location in Rackspace’s evaluation. The comment is a 2008 executive observation, not a current ranking of Australian connectivity.
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Data protection and privacy
The company also considered data-protection and privacy conditions in the markets it reviewed. The announcement does not provide a scoring system or a detailed legal comparison, so it supports only the conclusion that these issues influenced Rackspace’s deliberations.
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Access to mainland China
Hong Kong’s position was relevant to Rackspace’s broader China strategy. Executives cited the ability to reach mainland China as one factor in the decision. The announcement describes this as strategic access; it does not establish that the Hong Kong facility itself served every mainland customer or complied with every mainland hosting requirement.
What the 2008 plan included
| Item | Announced figure or description | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Investment | At least $20 million | Rackspace’s planned investment reported in 2008; not a current spending or asset figure. |
| Initial data-center footprint | About 9,500 square feet | Planned starting space in leased colocation facilities. |
| Expansion option | Up to 18,000 square feet | Room to scale beyond the initial footprint; the announcement does not say that the full amount was built. |
| Regional customer base before opening | More than 500 Asia-Pacific customers | A company-reported 2008 count served from U.S. and U.K. data centers. |
| Existing Rackspace facilities | Four in the United States and three in the United Kingdom | The network count cited by Hong Kong officials at the time of the announcement. |
Starting with leased colocation space gave Rackspace a way to establish a regional presence without immediately committing to a larger purpose-built campus. The option to expand indicated that the company expected demand to grow if the initial operation performed as planned.
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Which services were tied to the expansion?
The Hong Kong government announcement listed the range of Rackspace services associated with the business, including:
- Managed hosting
- Cloud hosting
- Platform hosting
- Virtualization
- Security and email services
- Storage and backup
- Professional services
These offerings show that the announcement covered more than physical racks. Rackspace was positioning Hong Kong as a base for its broader managed infrastructure and support model.
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The available 2008 reporting documents Rackspace’s decision criteria, but it does not publish a numerical ranking of the markets. The comparison can therefore be stated only in the terms executives used:
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| Market considered | Relevant issue reported in 2008 | What the announcement establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong | Customer support, connectivity, privacy and data protection, and access to mainland China | Selected for the Asian headquarters and initial data-center plan. |
| Singapore | Included in the site search | Considered, but the announcement gives no detailed reason for not selecting it. |
| Japan | Included in the site search | Considered, but the announcement gives no detailed reason for not selecting it. |
| Australia | Connectivity was cited as an issue by Jim Fagan | Considered, but not selected for the launch described. |
What happened later—and what remains unconfirmed
A Rackspace announcement dated May 8, 2020 listed Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Singapore among its Asia-Pacific-and-Japan locations and said the company would open a new office in Auckland. That is a dated snapshot of the company’s regional footprint, not proof of the Hong Kong data center’s present operating status, capacity, ownership or service availability.
The 2008 sources likewise establish an announced plan, not a verified account of the facility’s eventual build-out or later changes. Readers looking for current hosting availability should treat the historical figures—$20 million, 9,500 square feet and the possible 18,000-square-foot expansion—as period plans rather than specifications for a current Rackspace site.
Why the announcement mattered
Rackspace’s Hong Kong move marked a shift from serving Asia remotely to placing headquarters, infrastructure and support in the region. Its stated logic was pragmatic: follow an existing customer base, improve regional reach, evaluate privacy and data-protection requirements, and use Hong Kong’s position in relation to mainland China. The leased, expandable footprint also let the company test demand while preserving a path to larger capacity.
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