Cormant hopes to mobilize its users with DCIM suite

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1 Cormant hopes to mobilize its users with DCIM suite Analyst: John Stanley 11 Oct, 2012 Cormant is a small vendor of software for managing IT assets, power connectivity and data connectivity. Over two-thirds of the company's revenue comes from datacenter deployments, where its CableSolve product is a full datacenter infrastructure management (DCIM) suite. But Cormant's software can also manage assets and connectivity across corporate or institutional campuses. To avoid being perceived by customers as limited to cabling, Cormant says it plans to change the name of its software to Cormant-CS before the end of One of CableSolve's main differentiators is its integration with a variety of handheld barcode readers and other mobile devices. This integration gives users the ability to review data and make updates as they work with assets, without having to return to their desks to use the main CableSolve interface. Cormant has about 35 employees, nearly 200 customers and year-2011 revenue of just less than $5m. Context Cormant is a small vendor of IT infrastructure management software, originally founded in 2001 as Cormant Technologies. The company's founders, who are from the UK and Australia, headquartered the organization in the Philippines, a hub of outsourced-software development. In 2003, Cormant released its software product CableSolve, for connectivity and cable management. Since then, CableSolve has evolved into a complete DCIM suite. In 2010, sensing the growth potential of the US market, the company moved its headquarters to San Luis Obispo, California, and became US-based Cormant. The company has 35 employees and is funded with founder capital. It has no venture funding or debt. Cormant describes itself as an IT infrastructure management supplier rather than a DCIM supplier Copyright The 451 Group 1

2 because its software is designed to track assets and connectivity both inside and outside datacenters. About 70% of the company's revenue comes from datacenter deployments, with the other 30% from non-datacenter buildings such as corporate or institutional campuses. Cormant's emphasis on access to data via mobile device is particularly important in non-datacenter settings, where users may not be near their computers, or even near wireless access. Despite its cabling-centric name, CableSolve includes all three sets of features by which 451 Research defines a DCIM suite: data management and reporting; IT asset management; and monitoring of power and environmental conditions. Technology CableSolve's main focus areas are IT asset management and connectivity mapping. The software can map power and data connections among devices, helping users understand dependencies (e.g., what servers would be affected if a certain network switch failed). This mapping is not limited to datacenter environments; in campus environments, it can map power paths to desk outlets or communications wiring throughout a building. One of CableSolve's key features is its integration with mobile devices. For day-to-day use examining assets, doing move/add/change work and running simple reports, CableSolve has an application that runs on Windows mobile devices with built-in barcode or RFID (radio frequency identification) scanners. To allow use in areas without wireless network access, the application stores a copy of all relevant data on the device, tracking changes until the device is synced with the CableSolve server. To avoid exceeding a device's storage capacity, CableSolve can be set to only store offline copies of asset records relevant to the local site, rather than all global asset records. The software also has functions for handling the rare cases where two users' mobile devices attempt to sync conflicting asset updates. Cormant only sells the mobile application; the reader devices themselves come from suppliers such as Motorola and Intermec Technologies. (The devices generally cost between $1,000 and $2,500 each. ) There are CableSolve-branded asset barcode stickers, but CableSolve can understand data from a wide variety of barcodes and RFID asset tags. (Cormant notes that many pieces of equipment are already barcoded by manufacturers.) Cormant also offers applications for Android, Apple and BlackBerry smartphone and tablet devices. These applications are lightweight versions of CableSolve's desktop interface and require wireless network access. The applications are for light use, where users might need to review data but make Copyright The 451 Group 2

3 only a few asset changes. Cormant believes the ability to read and update data via handheld device is essential to keeping an asset-tracking system accurate. For example, without mobile access, a user making asset changes often needs to note them on paper, and then update records when he or she returns to the DCIM interface at a stationary computer. This takes extra time, adds another chance for data-entry errors, and increases the likelihood that the updates will be forgotten. Another of CableSolve's differentiators is its configurability. As with many DCIM systems, users can define new device templates or add custom data fields to track new types of asset information. CableSolve goes beyond this basic customization with its open scripting module, which allows users to code their own features. For example, one customer created a script that allows a user to cut and paste a virtual machine (VM) from one server to another in the CableSolve interface. CableSolve then communicates with VMware's hypervisor software to actually move the VM. This type of customization is uncommon, but it demonstrates the extent to which users can add to CableSolve's capabilities if they wish. CableSolve is also capable of collecting and reporting real-time operational information, but these features are secondary to its well-developed IT asset management features. CableSolve comes with pre-configured scripts to collect power, temperature and other data from several popular brands of monitoring devices and 'smart' equipment. Users can configure the software to collect data from other devices via CableSolve's scripting engine. Users can also configure reports to present historical data, calculate PUE or do other analyses. Pricing and customers The software license cost for CableSolve is relatively small, on the order of $1,000. Pricing is mainly driven by the number of assets under management, at typical prices of $2.50 to $7 per asset, depending on volume. This billable asset tally includes things such as IT gear, racks and power equipment, but it typically does not include cables or passive devices such as 'dumb' patch panels. Customers pay for Cormant's software up-front, plus a 20% annual maintenance fee. Cormant sells its software mainly through channel partners, with a few direct sales to large or strategic customers. The company has nearly 200 customers in total throughout the world, and year-2011 revenue of just less than $5m. Copyright The 451 Group 3

4 Competition RF Code, with its active RFID technology, is a direct competitor to Cormant. Like Cormant, RF Code provides a complete DCIM suite, and is heavily focused on asset management inside and outside datacenters. Active RFID has certain advantages over passive RFID or barcode labels, but active RFID asset tags are also more expensive. Cormant also competes with other DCIM suite suppliers, particularly Nlyte Software, CA Technologies (CA DCIM) and Raritan (dctrack, Power IQ). Another rival is Rackwise, which also offers support for handheld barcode scanners. Other major DCIM suite providers include Emerson Network Power (Aperture, Avocent, Trellis), Schneider Electric (StruxureWare for Datacenters), itracs and Panduit (Physical Infrastructure Management suite). FieldView Solutions and Optimum Path Systems (Visual Datacenter) are two smaller suite providers. There are several other DCIM suppliers in the market, but their feature sets have less competitive overlap with Cormant's. Suppliers that focus on operational monitoring and control include Eaton (Foreseer, Power Xpert), Geist, Modius, OSIsoft, Power Analytics, Power Assure and Server Technology Inc. Other providers with various specialties include Future Facilities, Integrated Building Solutions, JouleX, Sentilla, SynapSense, TrendPoint Systems and Vigilent. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Access to data via a variety of mobile device platforms will be useful to customers, and differentiates CableSolve from most other DCIM systems. Opportunities Threats Users will likely increase their interest in DCIM integration with smartphones and tablets over time, as the business IT shift toward mobile devices continues. Mobile device integration is not a high priority for most DCIM buyers, at least in the near term. CableSolve's operational monitoring features are less well developed than its asset management capabilities. Cormant is not the only DCIM vendor with mobile device integration, and major vendors that have not yet added this feature will quickly follow suit if customer demand is sufficient. T1R take We believe Cormant's decision to rename its product is the right one. CableSolve likely gave some potential customers the false impression that Cormant's software was very focused on or limited to cabling. Cormant makes a good case for the importance of mobile devices in DCIM asset-tracking systems. However, most buyers in the DCIM market do not yet list mobile support as a high priority when choosing DCIM systems. This will likely change over time, but Cormant will need to put some work into customer education. Another potential differentiator for Cormant is its pricing. Cormant's Copyright The 451 Group 4

5 per-asset pricing may be attractive to users since it makes small deployments relatively cheap, as long as the system does not get too expensive at high asset counts. Special from 451 Research's Market Insight Service DCT Datacenter Technologies Copyright The 451 Group 5

6 Reproduced by permission of The 451 Group; This report was originally published within 451 Research s Daily T1R. For additional information on 451 Research or to apply for trial access, go to: Copyright The 451 Group 6