Rackspace Leases Site for EMEA Operations

It's no secret that Rackspace Hosting is interested in international growth for its managed hosting and cloud computing business. The company has opened data centers in the UK and Hong Kong to provide an infrastructure footprint in the European and Asian markets.

Rackspace has now leased a large chunk of office space in Middlesex, England to serve as its headquarters in the EMEA region (short for Europe, Middle East, Africa). On August 18 signed a lease with Hyde Park GP Limited for about 101,000 square feet of office space in Middlesex, not far from Heathrow Airport and the company's newest UK data center in Slough. The lease was disclosed in an SEC filing Tuesday.

The lease includes space earmarked for staff training, a key focus for Rackspace. The company has an employee training center in its San Antonio headquarters.

Rackspace isn't scheduled to move in until November 2011. But the lease signals that the company sees the potential for significant growth for cloud computing in Europe and the Middle East. Rackspace has seen strong growth in its U.S. cloud business, which has helped the company grow to more than 100,000 customers and 62,000 servers.