RakN’s Focus on Infrastructure as Code Automation with Rob Hirschfeld

The Business of Open Source

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO of and co-founder of RakN, joins the show to discuss their work in the world of automation. Notably so, automation of data centers using infrastructure code principles to create “infrastructure pipelines.” Rob’s honest and open story provides a great example of how to identify areas that need a product, to developing the product itself.

In this episode, Rob gives us the history of RakN from the earlier inception when he was at Dell, to where they stand today. Rob shares some insight on the challenges of DevOps when it comes to dealing with the various “silos” that organizations have created. He reflects on their transition away from Dell, and how they realized they needed to be table to talk to customers about how they used their products.

Highlights:

• Introduction to Rob and RakN, a focus on automation, and their origins (00:00)
• The differences between building and shipping instead of just building on site (04:40)
• The transition away from Dell and RakN’s early growing pains (08:20)
• The hardest parts of the technology/commercial balance (14:45)
• Some critical lessons from the transition (23:25)
• Reflecting on the early days and lessons (30:25)

Links:

Rob

• Twitter
• LinkedIn