RackN simplifies modern infrastructure management with Digital Rebar, enabling efficient deployment of Kubernetes clusters, bare-metal systems, and edge solutions. Jon Aykroyd, Principal Customer Success Engineer, highlights RackN’s work with OpenShift on bare metal and the rising significance of edge computing. Speaking at KubeCon and CloudNativeCon, Aykroyd emphasizes the Kubernetes community’s openness and the persistent challenge of managing Kubernetes deployments.

Aykroyd highlights RackN’s collaboration with Red Hat to enable OpenShift deployment on bare metal using Digital Rebar. This work resulted in a proof of concept (POC) and a reference architecture designed to meet regulatory and operational requirements for enterprises, particularly in heavily regulated industries like finance. The lessons learned underscored the need to engage with customers early to align solutions with real-world constraints. Aykroyd says, “I have gained a whole new respect for the people who are running and operating Kubernetes in the real world today, because it’s not easy.”

Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of bare metal in the cloud-native space, Aykroyd notes the growing interest in owning hardware for long-term savings, despite the operational challenges. Bare metal also simplifies diagnosing failures across hardware and software layers, offering greater control and transparency compared to cloud services.

Aykroyd also highlights the resurgence of edge computing, driven by the demand for low-latency AI workloads. He tells us that RackN is helping customers push workloads closer to the edge to enhance performance and reduce latency.

Aykroyd addresses RackN’s role in bridging the gap for companies transitioning from legacy systems to modern infrastructure. By codifying decades of bare-metal expertise into its platform, RackN helps customers manage complexity effectively. Finally, Aykroyd distinguishes between platform engineering and platform infrastructure engineering, emphasizing that RackN focuses on the foundational layers required to deploy and scale Kubernetes clusters.

Guest: Jon Aykroyd
Company:RackN
Show: Let’s Talk

This summary was written by Emily Nicholls.