Rackspace has launched new managed cloud service tiers in Australia, including the first time it has offered monitoring for managed cloud customers at no extra charge.
The launch is part of an effort by the hosting provider to "clarify" its position around managed cloud compared to rival public cloud offerings, said Angus Dorney, general manager Rackspace ANZ.
"What we've found partly over the last couple of years is our offering has been compared to some of other major players, and our offering is quite different because of the support we offer," said Dorney.
Rackspace today announced two managed cloud service levels: a "managed infrastructure" level, which includes launch assistance, architecture advisors and 24x7 access to Rackspace engineers.
"Which is quite different to an Amazon or a Google, which are very much a ticket based interaction," said Dorney. "With Rackspace you pick up the phone you've got engineers waiting to talk to you."
The second service level is called "managed operations", which also includes a dedicated account manager, 24x7 availability monitoring and response, and help for customers managing common operating systems and applications.
Both service levels will receive Rackspace Cloud Monitoring at no extra charge, which Dorney said was a first for the provider.
Rackspace is also claiming more "transparency" by separating out cloud infrastructure pricing from service and support. Managed infrastructure services are charged at $0.005/GB RAM per hour, with a $50 per month minimum, while managed operations services cost $0.02/GB RAM per hour, with a $500 per month minimum.
Infrastructure usage rate is "based on the usage of cloud compute services" and is $0.04/GB RAM per hour.
The announcements come amid rapidly falling prices from public cloud providers like Amazon.
Despite the competition, Dorney said Rackspace's business had doubled in size in the last 12 months.
"We haven’t shied away from the fact that in our 15 year history we have charged slightly higher premiums for service, expertise, performance and reliability. Customers understand that and they value that," he said. "I am a firm believer that no other it provider in the market can replicate the level of service we offer."
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