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In the presentation 'Fire It Up: How Empowered People Automated Provisioning In 6 Datacenters Across 4 Continents', Josh Schairbaum, a member of the Rackspace team, discusses the automation of network device provisioning across the company's global data centers. He shares insights into Rackspace's cloud computing initiatives and the technological transformations the company has embraced to enhance efficiency. Key points include:

- **Rackspace Overview**: Josh introduces Rackspace as a leader in cloud computing, emphasizing its nine data centers and the founding role in the Open Compute Project and OpenStack with NASA. Their aim is to improve data center efficiency through automation and standardization.
- **Automation Initiative**: The talk focuses on the application 'Firekick', which automates the provisioning of network devices such as firewalls and load balancers in data center environments.
- **Challenges of Automation**: Schairbaum identifies the complexity of automating network device configurations due to variations in operating systems and manual processes that previously hindered efficiency.
- **Development Phases**: He describes the evolution of the provisioning process at Rackspace from manual configuration sharing to using web applications for template-based configuration generation, leading to the initiative to achieve full automation through the 'Kick in the Rack' process.
- **Service Architecture and Policy**: The presentation details the architecture behind 'Firekick', discussing how the design adheres to principles such as the separation of mechanism and policy, which helped clarify the roles of various services within the automation framework.
- **Trade-offs and Collaboration**: Josh highlights the importance of establishing a common language among teams, the need for collaboration on config templates, and the strategies employed to facilitate communication to foster automation success.
- **Realizations and Iterations**: The team learned from challenges faced during development, emphasizing the value of creating service objects to facilitate parallel development and maintain clarity in communication and troubleshooting.

In conclusion, through the development and implementation of Firekick, Rackspace has transitioned from complex, time-consuming processes to automated solutions that significantly reduce provisioning time. Automation not only enhances operational efficiency but also allows engineering teams at Rackspace to focus more on innovation and improving customer experiences.

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