LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — (Marketwire) — 10/12/11 — (NYSE: RAX), the service leader in (i), today announced findings from a study into Britain-s -connected lives-. The survey indicates that British users could have at least GBP 2.3bn worth of personal videos, music, books and photos stored in the cloud(ii). The survey also suggests that 31 per cent of UK adults have considered what they might pass on to family members in terms of what is now being defined as their personal -digital inheritance-.
The study, , commissioned by Rackspace in association with the at Goldsmiths, University of London, reveals that a generation of British users – two-thirds of respondents (66 per cent) – use cloud computing services without even realising it. The exploration was supported by quantitative research into attitudes and behaviour regarding the cloud among 2,000 UK adults.
Other key findings from the study include:
Fabio Torlini, VP of Cloud at Rackspace, says: “The cloud is becoming more and more part of our everyday work and personal life. With the large investment so many UK adults seem to be making in digital treasures, it-s imperative that people consider the associated security and legacy implications. Businesses have a great opportunity now to shape consumer understanding of cloud computing and build trust. It-s important to remember that although cloud is for everyone, it-s not for everything.”
As part of the survey, CAST identified four distinct cloud user profiles which include:
2020 Future Forecast
Many respondents believe that the cloud will make CD and physical book collections a thing of the past for them. Predictions for 2020 include:
For more information on the study, plus an infographic and report to download, please visit: .
Notes to editors
(i) Terms such as -cloud-, -cloud-based services- and cloud computing refer to the management and provision of applications, information and data – i.e. computing power – as a service. Cloud services are usually accessed and provided over the internet, often at no cost in the case of consumer cloud services.
(ii) Based on survey results indicating that 24% of UK adult population hold no less than GBP 200 worth of assets in the cloud and applying that percentage finding to the total UK adult population (population source: 2009 estimates from the Office for National Statistics).
About the research
The CAST research team was immersed for two weeks in online and offline social spaces (digital ethnography) while using multiple and mixed methods to acquire data (Radial Research). As a method of digital ethnography, Radial Research is a unique approach designed by CAST researchers to rapidly obtain credible and transparent findings. Starting from an epicentre, in this case -the cloud-, the researchers follow lines of possibility found through crowdsourcing, interviews and online interactions to make visible spaces and subjects interacting with the cloud. Each site is distinct but interacts and intersects with others, such that, like the ubiquitous notion of the cloud, no site is ever completely without links to others.
15 participants were interviewed between 15 and 18 July and one year-five class of nine and ten year-olds. Three students were interviewed separately after the class.
For the quantitative research, Rackspace commissioned research house OnePoll to survey 2,000 adults across the nation to provide a representative sample of UK adults aged 18 years and over.
About Rackspace Hosting
Rackspace Hosting is the world-s leading specialist in the hosting and cloud computing industry, and the founder of OpenStack, an open source cloud platform. Rackspace provides Fanatical Support ® to its customers, across a portfolio of IT services, including Managed Hosting and Cloud Computing. In 2010, Rackspace was recognised by the Sunday Times Best Places to Work and Financial Times Top 50 Great Place to Work in the United Kingdom for the seventh year in a row. The company was also positioned in the Leaders Quadrant by Gartner Inc. in the “2010 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service and Web Hosting. For more information, visit .
Forward-Looking Statements
This Press Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of Rackspace Hosting could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including any statements relating to expected or predicted behaviours of consumers and the impact of cloud computing; any statements of expectation or belief directly relating to Rackspace business derived from the survey results; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include a substantial margin of error in the survey results, inconsistencies in respondent-s understanding and Rackspace-s analysis of survey questions and results, the possibility that expected benefits from any shift in consumer behaviour may not materialize as expected; the achievement of expected operational results from any shift in consumer behavior; and other risks that are described in Rackspace Hosting-s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the second quarter 2011 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 8, 2011. Except as required by law, Rackspace assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
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