Editorial FAQs

Network World, an IDG company, is the leading provider of news, analysis, reviews, events and education on technology for Network IT Executives who require knowledge in order to manage the timely and efficient flow of information throughout their extended enterprises.

Network World understands the critical role technology plays to ensure the success of any business today. We understand what technologies, topics and industry news are important to Network IT Industry Executives. Our depth of coverage in online, print and events, requires that we be experts in the business impact of new and existing technologies, understand how the technologies and players fit, foresee which announcements are destined to become trends or fads, and what a vendor’s strategy means for the vendor itself.

The vision: To be the source of network knowledge.

The mission: Network World synthesizes industry developments so Network IT Executives can make informed technology business decisions. Network World’s service focus recognizes that, while technologies change, the basic needs of the reader remain constant. Network World’s audience needs: detailed information about products and services; help identifying ways to apply technology to advance business success; career and management advice; and information about technology advances.

Special Branded Editions of Network World

What is Special Focus and who do I contact regarding that editorial product?
Special Focus is a feature that we rotate sequentially among six broad technical areas: Wireless & Mobile, Security, Network Management, VoIP & Convergence, LANs & Routers and Operating Systems. Writers and specific topics are spelled out a month or so in advance in our Monthly Editorial Highlights at www.networkworld.com/pdf/poe_highlights.pdf. Contact writers directly with questions.

What is a Guide to…?
Six times a year Network World takes an in-depth look at a given technology topic in what we call Guide to…. Features in these packages typically explain the technology in question, discuss industry trends, profile how companies are using the technology and even provide exclusive test results of some of the prominent products in the category networkworld.com/indepth/index.html

What are New Data Center special issues?
Bi-monthly, in-depth analysis on key networking topics and markets are presented with a focus on the New Data Center.

Coverage

What does Network World cover?
Enterprise network products, services, issues and trends; everything from data communications to voice and video and efforts to integrate all three.

Who is Network World's audience?
Network IT Executives who are responsible for the digital nervous systems of large organizations. They design, implement and manage the data, voice and video networks used for everything from employee collaboration to accessing corporate data resources to mobile workers to those companies conducting e-business with customers and trading partners.

Is your editorial calendar online? Yes, at networkworld.com/pdf/calendar.pdf

Pitching an Idea for a Story or Getting Product Coverage

Are exclusive stories important to Network World?
We welcome them, but our news hounds are more than capable of digging up their own scoops.

Do you sign embargoes?
No. But we will agree to keep news under wrap in particular cases, as when we are testing a forthcoming product or working on a feature with a long lead-time.

Does Network World accept vendor-written contributions?
Vendor-written material is only considered for the Technology Update section where we run primers on emerging technologies. Each piece must comply to our standards, which include:

– No products can be named.
– No product pitches are allowed.
– No company references are permitted (other than in the author’s bio).
– The end product must be an objective discussion of a particular technology, protocol or industry standard, along with a step-by-step process diagram that shows how the technology handles traffic in a network.

Contact John Dix at jdix@nww.com

How do I pitch an idea for an article or story to a Network World editor?

• KNOW YOUR CONTACT. Calling one of the editors occasionally is ok, but they don’t follow your industry day in and out and they don’t write news stories. Make the beat reporter your best friend. (networkworld.com/pdf/editbeats.pdf)
• REPORTERS ARE INTERESTED IN MASTERING THEIR BEATS and getting high news play through scoops or investigative stories that piece together industry developments. Knowing that should help you figure out how you can help them.
• AN EDUCATED REPORTER IS ONE THAT WILL BENEFIT YOU THE MOST, so take the time to teach. You’ll be happier with the coverage you get and it will increase the chance of getting mentioned when the reporter covers a competitor (e.g., “Company A’s new router does this, but it lacks the functionality recently announced by Company B”).
  Teach us:
  – About your market. What makes it tick. Basic differences between the players.
  – About your product/service. Why is it important? How is it different? What is the value you are adding?
  – How does it work? Boil it down. Diagram it. If you can’t draw a good simple diagram of what this thing does and why it does it and how it is different/better than how other things do it, you’re missing an opportunity to convey your message clearly and simply. The more we understand, the more we are likely to say about the real difference about your product and why it matters.
  – Tell us who uses the product and how they use it and why. Seeing something in action makes things click.
  – What analysts have heard your pitch? Give us their name and phone numbers and tell the analysts to expect our calls.
  – Be frank about limitations and hurdles.
• RELATED TO TEACHING: Start off slow and accelerate. You are living and breathing your product. The reporter is living and breathing journalism and dealing with multiple vendors, multiple technologies, multiple markets and multiple deadlines. Unless you happen to personally know the knowledge level of the reporter you’re talking to, it is best to start off at ground level and work your way up, accelerating the build if it becomes apparent the reporter happens to be in tune with your sliver of the networked world.
  Countless meetings have been wasted because the vendor presumes too much knowledge. Refresh our memory about where you fit in, why you matter, how you’re different. If you’re boring us we’ll tell you. Presumption that the reporter has intimate knowledge about the company’s market and its product is possibly the number one mistake vendors make.
• SEND US WHITE PAPERS describing how your products work, how they are different.
• KNOW THE EDITORIAL CALENDAR (view the editorial calendar, monthly editorial highlights and a reporter beat list). This will help you hone in on specific features and special stories that you might want to inquire about.

 

Who do I contact with a product/service announcement, news story or meeting request?
Find the most appropriate beat reporter listed online at networkworld.com/pdf/editbeats.pdf and start there. Failing that, contact one of the news editors.

When's the best time to contact Network World editors?
For news, contact beat reporters directly Monday through Wednesday by looking over the coverage listed in the updated beat list at networkworld.com/pdf/editbeats.pdf and e-mailing them. We are in production on Thursday as Network World is published every Monday; so unless it is urgent news, do not call that day. Most of our editors prefer e-mail.