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June 30, 2014

How Rackspace helps one UK retailer innovate with Hybrid Cloud

Rackspace Hybrid Cloud provides notonthehighstreet.com with a platform for more efficient and scalable e-retailing.

By Duncan Macrae

UK online retailer notonthehighstreet.com has completed its Hybrid Cloud set up with the adoption of Rackspace Private Cloud.

Notonthehighstreet.com, which has generated transactions in excess of £83m in the past year, expects the solution to give the business flexibility to scale.

The retailer already uses Rackspace Public Cloud services to handle bursts in site activity at busy times of the year.

This hybrid cloud model means not only will customers using the website continue to have a "great and seamless experience", but the business is now able to deploy all its internal systems as services. It is hoped this will provide the ideal balance of speed, security and flexibility when scaling operations up or down, without any unwelcome investment in new IT infrastructures.

Rackspace will manage the computing, storage, networks, and operating systems of notonthehighstreet.com, but will also provide support services for complex tools and application stacks.

IT director at notonthehighstreet.com, Yoann Martin, said: "We’ve been with Rackspace for six years, and we’ve come to rely on the Fanatical Support we get from them. Using the hybrid cloud, and having everything managed by Rackspace, gives us the flexibility we need to tailor things to suit our business aims – whether that’s in terms of rolling services out internationally or isolating specific areas, such as PCI compliance, in order to focus on them."

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With Rackspace managing its Hybrid Cloud portfolio, notonthehighstreet.com’s IT department has been able to have a greater focus on strategic activities, such as DevOps and new service deployment, to help the company manage its growth and expansion.

Martin said: "Rackspace goes above and beyond the operational level for us, helping to constantly evolve our infrastructure. That eliminates the pain of having to do it all ourselves and means our technical talent can focus on doing what they do best – building our business."

Since launching in 2006, notonthehighstreet.com has offered in excess of 100,000 original lifestyle products from some of the UK’s most creative small businesses.

Because of its rapid growth, the company needs to constantly improve and grow its capabilities. Its success as an innovative retailer is said to be due to its constant focus on investing in the right technology, people and processes.

Jeff Cotten, MD of Rackspace International, said: "Notonthehighstreet.com has been a real ground-breaker in the online retail sector, receiving a lot of well-deserved praise. We’ve watched the business grow from an exciting start-up to an award-winning, multi-million pound enterprise. Staying at the forefront of business and continuing to develop in new areas isn’t easy – it takes vision, commitment and, in the case of an online business, technology that can keep pace with your needs."

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