Rackspace offers "blackout special"

Rackspace Managed Hosting, a Web hosting company that handles the monitoring and maintenance of server computers for businesses, is seeking new customers who may fear power outages in California. Rackspace is offering a "blackout special," promising to waive its setup fees for new customers moving Web servers from California into the company's Texas data center. These setup fees are about $1,000, according to a company spokeswoman.

The energy crisis in California has led to weeks of short-term rolling blackouts. Most major Web hosting firms, such as Exodus Communications, Digex, AboveNet and others, have backup batteries and power generators and have been unaffected. However, Rackspace is targeting smaller business customers that frequently host their own servers in house. The Rackspace offer expires March 1.