So allow me to comment here instead :-)

My point about VC was exactly as you describe - I'm not suggesting for a minute that VC becomes the CMDB. I'm saying the CMDB can pull data from VC rather than a 3rd party hardware inventory tool.

As I say at the end of most of the breakdowns, it's not really possible today (especially not for the enterprise) but if we all sat back and waited for the various ESM vendors to come up with this stuff on their own, we'd be waiting a very long time :). But the main thrust of the post was to more get people thinking about this stuff. So that end, I'd say mission accomplished :)