Rackspace opens up Fanatical Support for AWS to ANZ market

Rackspace has announced Fanatical Support for Amazon Web Services for Australian and New Zealand businesses, with AWS cloud customer Simpology already taking advantage of the offering.

Rackspace says it has trained and recruited a team of certified AWS engineers and architects in ANZ and is offering 24x7x365 managed support across all AWS products.

Angus Dorney, Rackspace ANZ senior director and general manager, says the local team has 25 certifications, with every 'Racker' credited on at least one AWS product.

Stefan Jansen, AWS Australia and New Zealand head of channels and alliances, says the added services Rackspace is offering through Fanatical Support for AWS will bring added choice to the rapidly growing AWS customer base across all segments.

Fanatical Support for AWS was initially announced globally last October and Rackspace has been provisioning beta customers in Australia and New Zealand since late 2015.

Among the early adopters is Simpology, which provides electronic lodgment solutions for the banking and finance sector.

Simpology, which is an AWS customer, says while it was keen to continue using tools and solutions familiar to them, it recognised the need for additional management and support.

Kate Gubbins, Simpology chief executive, says the company's applications are built on a micro-service architecture with a number of separate applications running a wide range of AWS products.

"AWS offers excellent support on products and services but we also wanted to work with Rackspace to provide additional support and expertise once we were on board," Gubbins says.

"We have a small team of five in Australia and 15 in Romania. For us to manage and support this environment, we would have to hire.

"Bringing Rackspace on board is the perfect solution, and it has been a solid win in terms of productivity and scalability as a result," says Gubbins.

 Dorney says disruptive businesses in the FinTech industry like Simpology, who work across multiple platforms, require high levels of support which makes Rackspace Fanatical Support on AWS 'a great fit'.