Two hours after Totality offered him the job, Davidson decided to take it. At EDS, he had seen many clients with large, complex sites suffer breakdowns that would have been eased if a company like Totality had been on the case. And he jumped at the chance to build something from the ground up. Perhaps, but Davidson's move is far from risk-free. Instead, they automate the deployment of complex Internet sites, making it a faster and less people-intensive job.
Totality has some advantages.
The company came out ahead of 17 other Web-site management companies in a recent META Group survey. And because it doesn't actually build data centers to host customers' sites, it enjoys a lower cost structure than competitors such as Loudcloud, Ferengul says. Still, Loudcloud, piloted by Internet top gun Marc Andreessen, remains the player to beat. With two decades of management experience under his belt, Davidson believes he'll do better at shaping an enterprise as complex as he expects Totality to be. But running a large company is a huge challenge requiring teamwork.