Ep 266 Rob Hirschfeld of RackN on Why Infrastructure Automation Matters Bare Metal, Kubernetes, + AI

This episode explores why infrastructure automation remains a live problem in 2025, focusing on bare-metal operations, Kubernetes, and the rise of AI workloads. Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and Founder of Rackn, discuss RackN’s approach with Digital Rebar, the importance of repeatable processes, and why heterogeneity in data centers is valuable. Topics include immutable infrastructure, rack-scale automation, the limits of abstractions and CRDs, and how organizations can bridge the skills and process gaps to run high-performance, compliant on-prem and AI infrastructure at scale. Thank you to Rob for a great conversation and we hope to see lots of folks at KubeCon to keep the discussion going!  This podcast is made possible by the support of GTM Delta and TechForward.io