Rackspace CEO Lanham Napier is to retire after eight years heading up the open cloud provider, with co-founder Graham Weston stepping back into the breach on an interim basis.

Weston, who was chief exec from 1999 to 2006, said in a blog post that “what we build from here, we will build on the shoulders of a giant.”

In a conference call with analysts, Napier noted that “now is as good a time as any” for him to step aside, citing confidence with development of OpenStack and progress of hybrid cloud as the key reasons.

“While there’s still work to do, I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made, the increased capability of our hybrid cloud offering in the way that it qualifies just to compete for much larger opportunities,” Napier said in prepared remarks as reported by Seeking Alpha.

“The transition has been challenging and has taken …