Blog Article

• Clementine Stuart-Russell - Rackspace
• Posted Sep 7, 2016

Takeflite Takes Off for Global Markets with Rackspace

As one of the first globally to successfully automate a complete end-to-end management solution for small to medium airlines, tourism operators, corporate fleets and cargo operator carriers, Takeflite is spearing-heading a global niche in airline management and operational automation.

Takeflite works by putting its customers' paper based systems and multiple spreadsheets into an integrated software service.  This includes the management of sales & reservations, departure control, scheduling & flight planning, operations, pilot rostering and the maintenance department. 

By digitalising the sheer volume of documents, logistical and regulatory information airlines manage, Takeflite’s customers are given greater transparency to their flights, cargo, passengers and staff. This helped to increase efficiency, while decreasing the opportunity for error.

To date, the business has enabled several time-critical aviation projects to take place, including servicing humanitarian needs for people during the 2011 Libyan Civil War and Alaskan communities receiving essential goods during winter to guarantee their survival.  

Built over 16 years by the Takeflite team and founder and director Neil Middleton, the business has now caught the attention of aviation organisations from across the world and as a result, demands for its services are skyrocketing.  

Takeflite chose to migrate its services to Rackspace in 2011 and more recently underwent an IT transformation to deploy high availability services, while moving away from a static infrastructure model to a more scalable platform.

“Over the last 24 months we’ve implemented an IT transformation to upgrade our services to be better geared to manage all types of environments,” said Mr Middleton.

“When you’re dealing with cargo planes that must reach their destination to feed an entire community before the airport freezes over due to a sudden drop in temperature, there is no room for software downtime or software latency.  Our product helps ensure that everything needed to get that flight off on time is in place and ready to go.” 

“Post transformation we’re now able to guarantee a certain level of performance that customers have come to rely on us for.  It’s our ability to provide this that’s attracting the interest of aviation businesses from every corner of the globe. Since we started in 2000 we’ve grown by 1000%, which is just incredible. We know that number will continue to climb and we’ll need a provider like Rackspace by our side.”

It was latency issues with Takeflite’s previous Australian cloud-provider during a global crisis that prompted them to migrate their services to Rackspace.

“Facilitating safe travel back from remote work compounds is something very dear to the hearts of our expat staff and their families, and one of the reasons behind why we chose to expand with Rackspace,” added Mr Middleton.

“One of the things that makes our relationship with Rackspace so successful, is that we can manage operations out of New Zealand with their local team, despite our software servicing multiple businesses across the Asia Pacific, North America, Africa and the Middle East. Being able to spread our reach without hassle gives us great piece of mind that our product will operate as we intended it to.”

Rackspace Australia general manager and senior director, Angus Dorney, said, “Takeflite operates in a mission critical environment, so choice and flexibility are crucial. As their trusted IT advisor, we’re thrilled to help manage the deployment of the infrastructure that meets their specific needs and that of their customers from across the globe.”

About Rackspace
Rackspace (NYSE: RAX), the #1 managed cloud company, helps businesses tap the power of cloud computing without the complexity and cost of managing it on their own. Rackspace engineers deliver specialized expertise, easy-to-use tools, and Fanatical Support® for leading technologies developed by AWS, Google, Microsoft, OpenStack, VMware and others. The company serves customers in 120 countries, including more than half of the FORTUNE 100. Rackspace was named a leader in the 2015 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Enabled Managed Hosting, and has been honored by Fortune, Forbes, and others as one of the best companies to work for. Learn more at www.rackspace.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

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Media Contact:

Clementine Stuart-Russell

+61 2 8281 3843 / +61 414 490 092

c.stuartrussell@originagency.com.au