Cognition wins $1 million in financing

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Milwaukee-based Cognition, Inc., which builds and provides on-demand network laboratories for IT professionals, has received more than $1 million in financing from two area firms.
The funds are coming from divergent sources โ€“ $1 million from Payne & Dolan, a 70-year-old road and bridge builder based in Waukesha, and more than $200,000 in services and infrastructure from Capital Data of Milwaukee, a computer-leasing firm.
The market for such network laboratories is large, says Todd Borghesani, CEO of Cognition. At present, there are more than 5 million information technology (IT) professionals in the US, and their ranks are growing by nearly 20% per year.
Borghesani said Cognitionโ€™s network laboratories permit users to experiment with problem-solving in a live network, delivered across the Internet via browser. By using Cognitionโ€™s data center infrastructure, a systems engineer has portable access to various network configurations to test and solve problems.
โ€œEven when traveling or working from home, a systems engineer can log on via a browser and grasp a new network configuration process by working on a remote and isolated network,โ€ said Borghesani. โ€œThe network sheโ€™s working on is live โ€“ but safe, since itโ€™s not her clientโ€™s or employerโ€™s production network. Sheโ€™s now advanced her level of field expertise.โ€
The training provided by Cognition can give IT professional skills more in demand, said Paula Boyum, vice president for workforce development at Bellevue Community College, Bellevue, Wash. โ€œIncreasingly, our corporate clients want IT professionals with โ€˜hands-onโ€™ expertise,โ€ Boyum said. โ€œWhile the classroom is a valuable forum for educating these individuals, an automated network laboratory that delivers networks โ€˜on-demandโ€™ is a new tool that can accelerate their level of operational knowledge.โ€
Payne & Dolanโ€™s president Kurt Bechtold said his firm was impressed with Cognition. โ€œWe studied the marketplace, the competitive offerings and the abilities of the Cognition management team,โ€ said Bechtold. โ€œRespectively, we saw continued market growth in serving the needs of the IT sector, competitive superiority, and a resilient and creative management team.โ€
โ€œIn todayโ€™s networked economy, Cognitionโ€™s tools will have deep value across several industry sectors,โ€ says Paul Eberle, president of Capital Data Inc.
Borghesani adds, โ€œAs a Milwaukee-based company, we are proud to have these two well-established Midwestern companies believe in us and our mission. We are fortunate to have such knowledgeable strategic advisors and investors.โ€
Jeff Gross, an investment banker at VM Equity, Chicago, says, โ€œCognition was able to raise a substantial amount of first-round capital in Milwaukee despite the challenges of the economic and Internet fallout, and thatโ€™s impressive.โ€
Cognition (www.cognitioninc.com) is located at 310 E. Buffalo St. in Milwaukeeโ€™s Third Ward.
Aug. 3, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

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