Rackspace to Provide Managed Web Hosting for FunnyorDie.com

June 26, 2007; 01:25 AM
Rackspace® Managed Hosting has signed an agreement to provide managed web hosting for FunnyorDie.com, the new comedy video website created by actor Will Ferrell and co-producer Adam McKay’s company Gary Sanchez Productions.

Launched only two months ago, FunnyorDie.com, the funniest place on the web, has had over 13 million unique visitors, introducing the need for a powerful and scalable infrastructure to accommodate the site’s instant and growing popularity. The most popular video, “The Landlord,” featuring Will Ferrell, received more than 34 million views in less than two months.  Under the 12-month agreement, Rackspace created a customized, high-availability environment with multiple layers of redundancy at the network and hardware level to ensure the laughter will go on.
 
"FunnyorDie.com launched with a bang, attracting more than seven-million page views in the first week.  We needed to get a robust infrastructure in place to support the volume of traffic," said Mitch Galbraith, chief operating officer, FunnyorDie.com.  "We lined up Rackspace to design the appropriate infrastructure, and they’ve delivered each step of the way with their technical guidance and expertise in enterprise Linux.  The Rackspace team takes the success of our site personally, and they are available for us 24/7, which is strategic for us since people visit our site around the clock."

As part of Rackspace’s Intensive® Hosting for Enterprise Linux offering, Rackspace designed a configuration architected for full redundancy, maximum processing power and seamless content delivery. Running Red Hat Enterprise Linux on both Rackspace-built servers as well as HP ProLiant DL385 enterprise servers, the FunnyorDie.com configuration includes a scalable managed backup solution from a centralized network for the vast amount of digital content.  The high availability environment also includes an advanced custom monitoring system using Cacti logging tools to write custom monitoring shells and provide real-time monitoring of each device and application. Rackspace’s Intensive Hosting also provides managed security, performance-enhancing gear and advanced MySQL database services.

"FunnyorDie.com is a trailblazer in the online video space.  With a growing audience and thousands of hilarious videos, many featuring top celebrities, they need a reliable infrastructure behind their digital community," said Glenn Reinus, senior vice president of worldwide sales, Rackspace Managed Hosting.  "Funny or Die trusts Rackspace’s new media hosting expertise to support a superior user experience and ultimately enable a platform for funny people around the world."

About Funny or Die, Inc.  (www.funnyordie.com)
Funny or Die is a new video website that focuses exclusively on comedy.  The site launched in April of 2007 and is already one of the most visited comedy sites on the web according to publicly available data at www.quantcast.com.  A key ingredient of the site’s success is its focus on a new genre of content:  the raw and experimental look and feel of user-generated video, turbocharged with celebrity talent.  An example of the powerful appeal of this style of content is “The Landlord,” a video featuring Funny or Die founders Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.  The video, depicting an altercation between Will Ferrell and his tough-as-nails landlord (played by a 2 year-old girl), has been viewed over 34 million times.  For comedic celebrities, Funny or Die is quickly becoming the “place to be seen” on the Web.  For users, Funny or Die is simply the best place to go online to easily find 20 minutes of laughter every day.  The company has offices in Palo Alto and Los Angeles, California and is funded by Sequoia Capital.
 
About Rackspace Managed Hosting
A recognized leader in the global managed hosting market, Rackspace Managed Hosting delivers enterprise-level managed services to businesses of all sizes. Serving more than 13,000 customers in eight data centers worldwide, Rackspace integrates the industry’s best technologies for each customer need and delivers it as a service via the company’s award-winning Fanatical Support™. Through trusted relationships, Rackspace serves as an extension of its customers’ IT departments, enabling them to focus on their core business.  Since its inception in 1998, Rackspace has grown more than 50 percent a year. For more information, please visit www.rackspace.com, or call 800-961-2888.