Canto Cumulus
One the best-known of all DAM products, Canto Cumulus has enjoyed ongoing development since 1991 and several thousand server licenses have been sold in that time. It lets workgroups find, share and publish their files, wherever the files are stored. Its facilities, which include full support for RAW image files, make it particularly suitable for creative professionals such as designers, publishers, advertising agencies and large photographic studios.
Cumulus handles all the digital assets of a company: images, sounds, video, presentations, whatever the file format. You drag files into it to catalog them, and drag them out to use them. Being a client/server system it allows everyone to access the assets, with permissions, and can be used across the web. This means you can let people know where to find assets, such as a large image file, without having to retrieve and send them personally.
Among the latest features in Cumulus are full-screen preview, built-in watermarking, automatic report generation, scheduler/catalog via email, and enhanced file format support for HTML and RTF -- which means it can be your organization's website archive and review tool. The latest version also takes a step toward complete work-in-progress management with the introduction of user comments.
Comment
Although the Cumulus Server Solutions are aimed at larger corporations than the average photographic studio, several photographers use this product.
Cumulus is very good for sharing assets with clients, under password control. However, it may be overkill for smaller studios -- and there is certainly a steep learning curve for anyone who needs to use all its features.
For individuals, Canto recommends Canto Single User (formerly MediaDex), which is built on the same digital asset management technology.
Tech info
- OS: (Server) Windows 2000 (SP4) onwards; Mac OS X; SOLARIS
- Price level: (Cumulus Server Solutions) from $2,500
Canto Software
Since 1990, Canto has been a leading supplier of digital asset management solutions. It addresses a wide spectrum of market segments, including Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Manufacturing, Advertising, Design, Government, Prepress, Print, Publishing, and Retail. Canto has a worldwide presence through its partner network and offices in Berlin and San Francisco.
From the same vendor:
- Canto Single User
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