Rackspace enters into optimisation deal with Akamai

Cloud computing hosting firm Rackspace has entered into a partnership with online optimisation specialist Akamai.

The companies said that the deal will bring Akamai's cloud optimisation tools to the Rackspace hosting service, promising increased performance for Rackspace cloud deployments.

Under the deal, Rackspace will equip its Cloud Files storage service with Akamai optimisation tools for the SSL, CDN and CNAMEs connection protocols.

"This is a strategic relationship for Akamai and Rackspace aimed at helping our enterprise customers realise the full potential of cloud services from the datacentre to the end user," said Willie Tejada, Akamai's vice president of application and site acceleration.

"By combining two best-of-class solutions for application hosting and cloud acceleration, Rackspace customers can gain improved performance, security and reliability for their web-based applications."

Rackspace will also offer additional Akamai optimisation tools through its direct retail channel. The companies hope that the deal will combine the two offerings through a single reseller service.

Customers can choose to install the tools as individual add-ons or as full suites of optimisation services.

The partnership will begin with the Cloud Files integration. Rollout of the reseller programme is slated to begin in the second quarter.