In a spirit of fairness (and also because it is legally required by the FTC), I am posting this Disclosure Statement. It is intended to alert readers to funding or gifts that might influence my writing. It will be updated when appropriate. It is intended to be incorporated by reference in future blogs.
I have attended various Tech Field Day / Network Field Day events. The vendors for such events paid for my travel expenses and typically provided some small items of “swag”. I’d like to think that my blogs aren’t influenced by that. I’ll note the time spent in presentations and discussion gets me and the other attendees looking at and thinking about the various vendors’ products, marketing spin, and their points of view. I intend to try to remain as objective as possible in my blogs. I’ll concede that cool technology gets my attention! I do try to call attention to things that impressed me positively, or very negatively.
I am also a member of the Cisco Champion program. Cisco provides considerations (access to experts, special webinars, swag, etc.) and in fairness, you should be aware of that in evaluating my independence. I joined in the hope I can learn and pass along information that blog readers and others may find useful.
I sometimes do NDA or other consulting or paid writing for vendors, providing my opinions, impressions, and tech feedback. Any money goes to NetCraftsmen and covers the time I spend. It does not increase my pay. It is generally the equivalent of a few billed hours of my consulting time at my hourly billing rate. My opinions remain stubbornly my own.
To sum up: my brain, mouth, writing, and opinions remain my own – I try to be fair and not influenced by swag or a few hours’ work billed by NetCraftsmen. All that buys is my attention covering a product.