Patching VMware ESXi hosts via vCenter Configuration Manager

Hello,

I am in the process of designing our VMware 5.1 environment to replace our existing 4.0 solution.  For a variety of technical and political reasons, our environment will include 9 vCenter servers / appliances. (Appliance / vCenter server decision has not yet been made)

I would rather not have to install / manage 9 separate vCenter Update Manager instances to patch our environment.

My question is Can vCenter Configuration Manager patch our ESXi hosts.

If so, can anyone provide feedback on how well this works compared to vCenter Update Manager?

Thanks,

Steve