Rackspace Offers UK’s First Carbon Neutral Web Hosting Service

HostReview.com
Tuesday, October 24, 2006; 02:32 AM

Web hosting provider Rackspace Managed Hosting has become the first managed hosting company in the UK to offer carbon neutral web hosting. Rackspace has partnered with the International Tree Foundation, Britain's longest standing tree planting charity, to create a new package that includes sufficient tree planting to offset the carbon emissions produced by each customer’s hosting solution.

Whilst online services can reduce the need for the printing of paperwork and direct mail, web hosting inevitably consumes electricity, and the generation of this power produces carbon emissions. In order to compensate for this, the quantity of carbon emitted is calculated and then trees are planted to offset this amount. Through its partnership with The International Tree Foundation, Rackspace makes it easy for its customers to opt for carbon neutral hosting by including appropriate tree planting within the solutions it offers.

Jacques Greyling, Managing Director, Rackspace Managed Hosting, said: “Rackspace’s clients, which include everything from blue chip, multi-national enterprises to innovative start-ups, are increasingly looking for ways to minimise the negative impact they have on the environment. As the leader in managed hosting, Rackspace is working with the International Tree Foundation to offer organisations the opportunity to have carbon neutral hosting. This move reflects Rackspace’s commitment to offering Fanatical Support to its customers by going the extra mile.“

Tony Warne, chairman of The International Tree Foundation, said: “This is the first time that the International Tree Foundation has entered into a deal of this kind. Businesses have long had the option of using recycled paper in the office, but as the website and electronic communications become more important, it is encouraging that a web hosting company as significant and high-profile as Rackspace is setting this benchmark for the rest of the industry to follow.”

For the online applications hosted by Rackspace that opt in to go carbon neutral, one tree will planted for every dedicated server used. As the fastest-growing managed hosting provider, server requirements at Rackspace are increasing at a rate of 80 per cent per year – this equates to between 200-300 new servers a month.

The International Tree Foundation has set aside land in Pembrokshire to plant trees on behalf of Rackspace, which will be entirely comprised of British native, deciduous hardwood trees. The trees will be planted in perpetuity (at approximately two years of age), at which stage they will already be absorbing significant volumes of carbon to fuel their rapid growth.

A recognised leader in the global managed hosting market, Rackspace Managed Hosting (www.rackspace.co.uk) is a world-class service organisation delivering enterprise-level Web infrastructure and managed services to businesses of all sizes. Serving more than 10,000 customers across six data centers worldwide, Rackspace integrates the industry’s best technologies for each customer’s need and delivers 100 per cent network availability. Founded in 1998, the company has received numerous awards for its brand of customer service known as Fanatical Support including the Unisys/Management Today 2005 Service Excellence Award.

The International Tree Foundation (www.internationaltreefoundation.org) is an international charity, which has been planting and preserving trees all over the world for over 80 years. It is the oldest tree charity in Britain, a member of the Tree Council, and administers the Family Tree Scheme.