Some use the term Whale Hunting to describe going for the big sale, and I would expect that some had used this term going for a DCIM sale at Facebook.
If you don't like the Whale analogy. Another one is the biggest wins are many times like the "belle of the ball" where companies are the most attractive for a sale.
Whatever analogy you use the Whale or Belle these companies are smart and know what the market looks like and is used to turning away advances and not taking the bait on a hook.
Then Facebook sends this message out discussing DCIM at DCD SF.
The management tools used today are already a hodgepodge of DIY and third-party solutions. The DCIM solution Furlong hopes will emerge from the current effort will establish a line of communication between management tools on the server side and management tools on the data center side.
Facebook is stuck. With as important as DCIM is, it is not a high enough priority to dedicate the resources to solve.
At the same time, using software-engineer hours to build a solution from the ground up does not make business sense. “Our software developers are better utilized worrying about our infrastructure and worrying about product than they are worrying about data center space.”
You don't hear glowing reviews of DCIM SW from the Whales or Belles in the industry. Does this mean DCIM is only good enough for the smaller less attractive companies?
Digital Realty has chosen to build its own DCIM which is part of why they'll discuss their solution.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), a leading global provider of data center solutions, announced today that it launched EnVisionSM, a comprehensive data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solution. EnVision provides increased visibility into data center operations, including the ability to analyze data in a manner that is digestible and actionable; a user interface with displays and reports that are tailored to data center operators; and access to historical data as well as predictive capabilities.
"Up until now, data has been collected, but it has not necessarily been easily accessed or arranged in an intuitive manner that is helpful to a data center operator," said David Schirmacher, senior vice president of portfolio operations at Digital Realty. "The goal in rolling out EnVision across our global portfolio is to give our customers a common database that is structured around the specific needs of data center operators and can therefore manage the millions of data points that are found in today's large-scale facilities."
DataCenterDynamics discusses this is not a threat.
DCIM vendors should not see this trend among hyper-scale operators as a threat, however, Ascierto says. Yes, their physical footprint does represent a sizable chunk of the addressable market, but the market is so immature, and the market penetration rate of DCIM is so low, there are plenty of other operators to go after, she says.
Not getting the big win may not be a threat, but it never feels good to miss the big sale that could be bragged about as the Whale or Belle of the Ball.