SAN ANTONIO -- A grant given to the newly-opened Northeast Lakeview College will be used to create a pipeline of skilled employees for local Web-hosting company Rackspace.

The Alamo Community College school received a $4.7 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund, a fund created by the state Legislature designed to help grow Texas-based companies.

The school is expected to train about 4,000 current and future Rackspace Managed Hosting employees in various networking platforms. The ACC is also talking with the Northeast Independent School District about building a similar academy for high school students, said Alamo Community Colleges' Chancellor Bruce Leslie.

Graham Weston, Rackspace's chairman, said his business needs highly-skilled workers and has previously struggled to hire employees at a necessary pace.

"These are very specialized skills you can't learn completely from home," he said.

Currently, Rackspace occupies the old Mervyn's store at the now-closed Windsor Park Mall. Weston said he plans to keep the company in San Antonio and eventually occupy the entire mall space.

The trainings are expected to take place during the next four years and be a part of all the Alamo Community College schools, according to a press release.