HP and Emerson Network Power have signed a deal to include Emerson’s Trellis data center infrastructure management (DCIM) product in HP’s consulting services.

The two will integrate Trellis with HP’’s converged management framework including its OneView flagship, and sell the joint package as a means to fix problems of managing and growing data centers.

The big promise is a solution to a big data center bugbear: providing a way to combine IT and facilities management, and give “holistic oversight” across both realms.

Bursting the bubble?

DCIM was fashionable a few years back when its promises of huge efficiency savings inspired a rush of venture capital funding. The results have been somewhat disappointing so far, leading to talk of a ”DCIM bubble”.

Emerson launched Trellis three years ago, bringing in products including those from Avocent, which it acquired back in 2009. The product is already sold by IBM and others.

HP and Emerson have had a partnership for a while, and don’t see any bubble in the DCIM world: “HP is a worldwide leader in the data center and operations management space, and our two companies have had a successful software partnership for more than 10 years,” said Enzo Greco, vice president and general manager, software, data center solutions, Emerson Network Power. “We are proud to extend that relationship by partnering with their Converged Management Consulting Services to help data center managers solve persistent challenges and improve their business results.”

HP wants to get its Trellis linkage tighter, said Rick Einhorn, vice president, of data center consulting: “[This partnership] allows us to better integrate the DCIM system with software-defined IT platforms, such as HP OneView, making the operation between facility and IT seamless.”