Working with the Editors

Systems Management News is the magazine for systems administration and IT managers of small and medium businesses, whatever their title. Our primary focus is to inform our reader about the latest happenings within our industry, and what that news means.

We report on such events as product introductions and upgrades, company mergers and acquisitions, and industry-wide initiatives and standardization efforts. Although our focus on systems management for small and medium businesses inevitably brings the discussion around to Microsoft, we are by no means limited in our scope of coverage to any platform stack.

Systems Management News does not generally cover vendor customer wins, marketing campaigns and promotions, reseller agreements or partnership programs. Nor do we publish product reviews, or reproduce externally written white papers or customer case studies.

The editorial content of Systems Management News editorial content comes from our staff and regular columnists, with contributions from domain experts.


Submitting News

News about your company, products and people does not need to be presented as a formal press release, and there is no standard format that we require for letting us know about news. You can submit your item by e-mail to the Editor, P.J. Connolly at pjconnolly@bzmedia.com.

Due to the large volume of news, Systems Management News is not able to pursue every news item submitted by companies in our market, and generally cannot acknowledge receipt of your press release or news announcement.

For significant news announcements, we prefer to be briefed as early as possible, but cannot promise coverage based on that briefing.

In some cases, we are willing to be briefed under an embargo, but for your own protection, check with the Editor, P.J. Connolly, before revealing embargoed or not-for-publication news. We cannot and will not be responsible for protecting confidential information sent to us without our prior consent to the embargo.

When submitting news to Systems Management News, please be prepared to provide high-quality graphics, including architectural diagrams, screen shots where applicable, product photography and pictures of those individuals providing the briefing. The use of these graphical materials is up to the discretion of the editors.


Special Features

Most issues of Systems Management News contain one or more special features, which is an in-depth article written by a staff writer or by one of our regular contributors. A list of upcoming topics can be found on our Editorial Calendar.

It is common practice for marketing and public relations staff to request detailed information about the topics and writers of upcoming features, and to offer interviews with their executives. We appreciate your interest, but may not be able to accommodate your request, due to the large number of these requests that we receive and for competitive reasons. Also, not all topics lend themselves to vendor coverage or commentary.

We have evolved a standard procedure for accommodating queries: Send us a message and we will relay it to the writer of that special feature. If the writer wishes to follow up on your query or interview request, he or she will respond to you directly. Due to the large number of queries we get for every topic, it is not assured that you will have a response from the writer. Repeated queries and follow-ups may be counterproductive.

You can send queries to the Editor, P.J. Connolly, at pjconnolly@bzmedia.com. We advise sending such queries two to three months in advance of that special feature's issue.


Phone & In-Person Briefings

Many companies wish to have briefings with Systems Management News editors, either in person or by telephone, and we do our best to take meetings that are driven by a news announcement.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of magazine and website production, we may not always be able to accommodate your request for an introductory, background or overview meeting. This is particularly true at conferences and trade shows, where schedules are extremely packed, but also applies to phone or in-person meetings. (Although our home office is on Long Island, be advised that Editor P.J. Connolly is based in San Francisco, and prefers to take meetings in that city.)

Feel free to request a meeting, but please don't be offended or take it as a sign of lack of interest in your company or products, if we must respectfully decline.


Corrections & Clarifications

It is our policy to correct factual errors in a timely fashion. If you believe that Systems Management News has published an error of fact, please contact the Editor, P.J. Connolly, at pjconnolly@bzmedia.com.


Editorial Graphics

Systems Management News publishes photos and graphics to accompany its news and analysis stories. We typically request headshots of authors and people whom we interview, and screenshots. Graphics should be sent directly to the Editor, P.J. Connolly at pjconnolly@bzmedia.com.

Many images copied into Microsoft PowerPoint presentations or Word documents are not suitable for reproduction in Systems Management News. Whenever possible, please send the original artwork, such as screen shots or Adobe Illustrator graphics.

Screen shots should be sent as native unaltered bits, in BMP or TIFF formats. Please do not save them as GIF or JPEG files - those formats compress files by throwing away bits, producing distorted images with blurry text and muddy colors. Because BMP and TIFF files can be very large, compress them using ZIP or StuffIt before e-mailing them.

Headshots or other non-screen-shot artwork should be sent as megapixel-resolution TIFF or JPEG files. For pictures of people, professional photographs of the subject are best, but are not required.

If you are taking the photograph with a digital camera, place the subject in a well-lit area. Backlighting (i.e., standing in front of a window), the use of on-camera flash and a busy background all detract from the quality of the photograph.

Please do not edit or alter the photographs or screen shots using Photoshop or another image editing product. Instead, send us the unaltered, uncropped digital image.


Questions?

P.J. Connolly
Editor, Systems Management News
pjconnolly@bzmedia.com