Disclosure Statement

This Disclosure Statement is intended to meet a FTC requirement, as well as ethics around paid writing. The goal is to alert readers to vendor funding or gifts that might influence my writing.

I have attended various Tech Field Day / Network Field Day events. I am also a member of the Cisco Champion program. BlueAlly is a Cisco and an HPE/Aruba/Juniper partner. This can result in me receiving small value “swag” items, some paid travel, some access to vendors’ tech staff, and some increased visibility as a blogger and “tech expert.”

The value they get is exposure for their products, etc., and my attention for more time than they might otherwise get. That in turn can lead to me mentioning them in blogs and public commentary about them and their products or marketing spin.
I do try to remain as objective as possible in my blogs.
I also very occasionally do paid feedback or writing for vendors, providing my opinions, impressions, and tech feedback. Any money goes to BlueAlly and covers the time consumed. 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 vendor presentations, swag, or a few hours’ work billed by BlueAlly. All that buys is my attention and time learning about or covering a product.