The University of Michigan, a massive system of academic, research and medical facilities, has devised plans to implement a data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software system across its entire IT infrastructure.

The university has been using Rackwise DCiM X product by the Folsom, California, firm since 2009 but to a smaller extent. The new initiative is to centralize IT management across all of its data centers, network closets and other “non-data center” IT assets.

Rackwise CEO Guy Archbold said the university's initiative demonstrated the company's strong presence in education and research sectors. “In these critical arenas, advanced DCIM capabilities are essential so that data center managers and IT professionals can effectively plan and manage data centers and computing ecosystems to assure the highest levels of reliability, discover hidden capacity, and enable efficiencies to continually optimize IT operations and costs,” he said in a prepared statement.

After its initial 2009 deployment, the university integrated the DCIM suite in data centers serving the University of Michigan Health System, which treats millions of patients, educates medical professionals and conducts research.

The university's academic arm includes 19 schools and colleges and serves about 45,000 students.

Rackwise is the only publicly traded “pure-play” company in the DCIM market, according to 451 Research. The year was not kind to its stock value, share price dropping from about US$50 in January to below $10 in April.

Its share price has not been able to reach above $10 throughout the rest of the year. RACK was trading at about US$4.5 per share on early Friday afternoon.

The DCIM market, while relatively immature, is highly competitive. It is crowded with vendors old and new, ranging from startups like FieldView and Vigilent to giants like Schneider Electric and Emerson Network Power.