In today’s episode of our Prediction Video Series, we’re joined by Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and Co-Founder of RackN. Hirschfeld discusses the challenges and opportunities for enterprise IT in 2025, sharing insights into how RackN’s product, Digital Rebar, aims to help enterprises navigate these complexities.

RackN is a bare metal automation company that helps enterprises streamline and enhance their data center operations. Hirschfeld highlights how Digital Rebar delivers significant savings in cost, time, and performance, driving infrastructure efficiency and innovation.

Hirschfeld predicts that two key enterprise IT challenges in 2025 will be: the ongoing VMware migration and the growing demand for integrating graphics processing units (GPUs), AI, and large language models (LLMs) technologies. Enterprises will likely face difficulties in finding cost-effective alternatives to VMware while also addressing the need for scalable and secure AI systems powered by graphics processing units (GPUs). Clear solutions such as reference architectures, have yet to emerge. Hirschfeld says, “We’re at a point where the challenges are very well understood, but the answers to those challenges are really missing.”

The lack of clear reference architectures that enterprises can follow to streamline virtualization and AI adoption is a challenge in the ecosystem. Hirschfeld explains that few organizations have the resources to lead the charge in defining these standards, leaving a vacuum that hinders progress. Hirschfeld advises companies to use this time to take inventory of their workloads, infrastructure, and technical debt to prepare for future developments.

When asked about his wish for market changes, Hirschfeld hopes Broadcom will reconsider its pricing but acknowledges that the broader challenge lies in the virtualization landscape as a whole. Hirschfeld encourages companies to explore more distributed and sustainable architectures and to rethink assumptions around density, power efficiency, and cost savings. Breaking away from traditional virtualization-dominated models can be challenging, but Hirschfeld underscores the potential of re-architecting the bare metal layer to drive innovation.

RackN’s primary focus for 2025 will be enabling Kubernetes on bare metal, which Hirschfeld believes has the potential to transform enterprise IT. By enhancing Kubernetes with cloud-like capabilities, dynamic provisioning, and multiple cluster management, RackN aims to provide enterprises with a high-ROI alternative to traditional virtualization. Hirschfeld emphasizes how Kubernetes complements AI workloads, presenting it as a solution for organizations aiming to enhance their capabilities in the future.

Guest: Rob Hirschfeld (LinkedIn)
Company: RackN
Show: 2025 Prediction Series

This summary was written by Emily Nicholls.