Honestly, I don't know who paid for it. I suspect that they're re-using hardware they've had laying around for a decade (maybe longer?), likely originally purch

Honestly, I don't know who paid for it. I suspect that they're re-using hardware they've had laying around for a decade (maybe longer?), likely originally purchased of ebay from businesses upgrading their servers/racks/appliances and re-selling the old stuff. Whether or not the employer reimburses them for the privilege of their having that for company use, I have no idea and I've never asked. It's not my business. Besides, it's not like you can't use k8s on some old servers in a home lab for other things, too.