Vendor Profile: Cormant-CS

Bill Kleyman

May 11, 2015

5 Min Read
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Cormant has delivered infrastructure management solutions for more than 11 years from its global headquarters in San Luis Obispo, CA. The company also has offices or subsidiaries in the UK, Philippines and Australia, as well as partners all over the world.

Cormant-CS is an easy-to-use DCIM platform which works to fulfill any organization’s needs, including matching business processes. Cormant-CS couples mobility with the flexibility of the product to help data centers, campuses, enterprise buildings and more. Its DCIM solution can scale all functionality from a single site to hundreds of sites spread across the globe.

Both Cormant’s licensing model and software allow organizations, small or large, to streamline IT management and processes. Cormant-CS has does provide entry-level pricing with an asset-based licensing model to allow organizations to purchase Cormant-CS and then grow the scope to fit business needs. All of these core aspects of Cormant have contributed to its high customer retention rate since their first product was launched in 2003.

Paul Goodison, the current CEO and one the founders of Cormant, has more than two decades of experience managing major IT projects across the globe. Realizing that portability is the critical key to solving the challenge of IT infrastructure management, Goodison and two of his colleagues created Cormant, which subsequently developed Cormant-CS (formerly CableSolve). Cormant is focused on working with customers to improve their management, control and reporting processes via a single-pane-of-glass view to where the physical and logical layers of IT infrastructure meet.

Cormant focuses on data centers and organizations of all sizes spanning the globe. Some of their major customers include Barclays Bank, NATO, McKesson, the U.S. Senate, and AIG.

“Having founded a company that has been selling infrastructure management solutions since 2003 and having seen the growing acceptance of Data Center Infrastructure Management and Cormant’s part in that market, it is great to see some of our earliest, 2003 - 2004 visionary customers still benefiting from our solution today,” said Cormant CEO Paul Goodison. “We look forward to the next 3 – 4 years with great excitement as some of the FUD in the DCIM space recedes and Cormant continues to introduce new ways for our ever-growing customer-base to achieve true business value from the software.”

Cormant Inc. is a leading provider of communication, information, and technology infrastructure management solutions to businesses of all sizes. Headquartered in San Luis Obispo, CA, with a sales office in the UK and distribution partners throughout Southeast Asia, UK, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Hong Kong and China, Cormant provides quality DCIM solutions to companies across the globe.

Cormant-CS, formerly known as CableSolve, is the innovative DCIM solution offered by Cormant. Here are some of the features offered by Cormant-CS.

Asset Mgt (10/10)

Cormant-CS uses a proven methodology of combining server, desktop, handheld, web and API functionality to control and manage all aspects of the physical layer in an infrastructure. It records information related to every asset, including the purchase, location, ownership, support, and configuration details. Multiple sources of information are standardized for a better management of data. The application stores the asset information in a single structured database, which can be viewed from across the infrastructure and makes searching for any asset quick and easy. Adding information to the database can be done using a desktop client, a handheld device, SNMP discovery, XML API, or imported spreadsheets. Using a single dashboard, it is possible to effectively manage all assets across the infrastructure.

Power Management (8.0/10)

Cormant-CS records the full power path and connectivity of each device within the infrastructure. It provides the ability to fully view all connection paths and monitor power utilization at any level. Redundancy can be effectively monitored. It is possible to check how much power is in use and what capacity is available to ensure that power caps are not exceeded.

Thermal Management (8.0/10)

Live readings from energy-monitoring sensors are taken to collect data on thermal conditions across the infrastructure. Cormant-CS offers the ability to collect this data from SNMP-enabled sensors and intelligent PDUs for a holistic understanding of energy consumption, which reduces PUE levels in the long run. The built-in scripting engine can be used to query and record DCIE or PUE statistics.

Space Management (8.0/10)

With rack and floor plan views visualized in the application, space management becomes easy. The centralized database and a practical work-order system reveals how much capacity is in use and how much capacity is available, along with potential hotspots. This has implications for the equipment, power, network and energy.

Visual Modeling (8.0/10)

Both floor and rack plan views are supported by Cormant-CS. It provides a rich graphical representation of the entire infrastructure. When an asset is reconfigured or relocated, this graphical representation is automatically updated in real time, so it is always possible to check exactly where each asset is located and exactly how much capacity is available. Static data or network queried data can be used to get this visualization. However, 3D visualization is not available.

Hypothetical Modeling (8.0/10)

Cormant-CS provides a practical work-order management system wherein steps required for each change in the infrastructure are predefined. The visibility of information in an all-in-one database enables a user to make informed decisions about the demand for equipment, assets, storage, power, and network access. The powerful built-in scripting engine allows for the creation of scripts that send alerts when changes are made.

Access & Control (10/10)

With the rise of smartphone use, the way in which information is accessed has completely changed. The strength of Cormant-CS is mobile access and control from both smartphones and tablets. You can use Android, Apple or BlackBerry devices to monitor the infrastructure from anywhere. The web-based API with open standards is easy to integrate with an organization’s existing systems and provides read-write capabilities. It also has a powerful built-in scripting engine that enables a user to send remote commands from the Cormant-CS application to any device within the infrastructure.

Reporting & Notifications (9.0/10)

Cormant-CS provides a detailed visualization of data center infrastructure information. The information can be displayed in multiple formats like dashboard views, historical views, and scheduled reports, which can be easily customized and e-mailed directly to users. The built-in script engine provides an easy way to be notified about any changes to the assets, DCIE statistics, PUE statistics, or any other related information.

About the Author

Bill Kleyman

Bill Kleyman has more than 15 years of experience in enterprise technology. He also enjoys writing, blogging, and educating colleagues about tech. His published and referenced work can be found on Data Center Knowledge, AFCOM, ITPro Today, InformationWeek, NetworkComputing, TechTarget, DarkReading, Forbes, CBS Interactive, Slashdot, and more.

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