Disclosures

Last updated: February 2016.

Many thanks to Bob Plankers for giving permission for me to rip off his disclosure statement. He expressed things so well, I’m delighted to mirror it. So here it is:

Public disclosure is required by certain programs, events, vendors, and the FCC. Furthermore, I believe in “blogging with integrity” (yes, I have signed the pledge) such that my readers should be able to trust what I write as my own opinion, and be able to discern anything promotional. I promise to make disclosures on individual pages where appropriate, and to only endorse products and services which I believe in.

My employer(s) do not and can not certify or endorse products, services, or vendors. Any implied or explicit instance of this is done by me as myself. Evaluations and testing I conduct in conjunction with my employer(s) are done in accordance with applicable procurement laws and policies. Disclosures of testing equipment, methodologies, and parameters in my writings are done so results can be reproduced and do not constitute endorsement.

I do reserve the right to change my mind about everything, as I learn more or have convincing discussions with others. I do not believe in revisionist blogging, and will not delete blog posts except under extreme circumstances. Where I encounter older posts which don’t reflect my current state of mind I will post an update to them as an addendum. I do not actively police older content of mine, so there may be conflicts. Sorry. Comments submitted to this blog become the property of John Herbert, and I do reserve the right to delete and edit comments as I see fit. That said, in practice I rarely like to do either, because I don’t want to stifle discussion, but I may choose to correct a spelling error here and there, fix formatting issues, and delete offensive comments and spam. Constructive, courteous comments are always welcomed and enjoyed.

Tech Field Day Events

As an independent consultant I have attended a number of Gestalt IT’s “Field Day” events; the full list can be found on my Tech Field Day profile page. These events are funded by the sponsoring vendors who “buy” time to talk to the delegates, and that money in turn funds my travel, accommodation and food while I am there, although I am not paid anything to attend.

Nominal promotional materials are provided by some of the presenting vendors, such as, but not limited to, socks, t-shirts or jackets emblazoned with vendor logos, mugs, stickers, pens, notepads, USB battery pack, Starbucks gift cards and USB flash drives containing documentation, none of which have significant value. OpenGear provided me with a wireless console server, model ACM5004-G, then (after NFD4) have provided me with an ACM5004-G-E (with digital I/O ports) and an ACM5504-5-G-W-I. They also provided a data SIM so that I could test the product’s 3G capabilities, and provided me access to a demo server for VCMS. Ruckus Wireless provided me with an AP7982 and a ZD1100, a small black stuffed dog toy and a name plate made out of a wifi antenna. In additional to the regular chotchkes, Solarwinds also provided a branded messenger style bag. Dell also provided a branded toy helicopter, Thousand Eyes provided a solar-panel equipped back pack, and Pluribus provided a Blue Snowflake USB microphone. At NFD9, Cisco Insieme provided me with a FitBit, SolarWinds made a custom bobble head of me (oh yes they did), and Pluribus gave us a “Bar10Der” bar multitool thingy. NetBeez gave us one of their monitoring devices so we can test it out (it’s a Raspberry Pi beneath the hood), and VeloCloud gave us a Project iQ “Pyramid” bluetooth keyboard. After NFD11, Cisco shipped us a Cisco 3560-CX POE switch, as used in their ceiling light panel demonstration. Sadly, a ceiling light panel did not accompany it. NetScout gave us a Fluke TruView Pulse 1000 in order that we could try out their new distributed monitoring product. At the NFDx event, Aruba gave me a Nintendo Switch.

I am not required or obligated to blog, tweet, or otherwise write about or endorse any of the Networking Field Day sponsors, but if I choose to do so I am free to give my honest opinions about the vendors and their products, whether positive or negative, and no other party has any control or input into my posts.

Solarwinds Thwack Ambassador

I have participated in the Solarwinds Ambassador program under contract, for which I have:

• Written a series of four Thwack forum posts on the subject of IPAM in the month of July 2013;
• Written a series of six “Geek Speak” blog posts in mid-2015;
• Written four “Geek Speak” blog posts out of a series of eight on the subject of “It’s not always the network” in late 2016;
• Written a series of six “Geek Speak” blog posts on the subject of learning to code in mid-2017.
• Written a series of six “Geek Speak” blog posts about the pillars of IT, in Q3 2017.
• Written a series of six “Orange Matters” posts (cross-posted to “Geek Speak”) on the subject of automation, in Q4 2018.

Posts for Solarwinds are sometimes on a topic of my choice, and sometimes on a theme of their choice, but are always written and posted by me without editorial input or interference from Solarwinds. I am not obliged to mention Solarwinds products (indeed, it’s sometimes discouraged), and I will state for the record that Solarwinds has never asked me to alter the content of my posts.

Juniper Junosphere

Juniper at one point provided me with some credits for use in their Junosphere environment; there is no expectation of coverage, nor anything else in return.

HP Discover Barcelona 2014

I attended HP Discover Barcelona 2014 in December 2014 under the auspices of the HP Independent Blogger programme. HP paid for my flights, accommodation and event access as well as feeding me conference food while there. There is no ‘quid pro quo’ at these events, and I am welcome to blog about anything or nothing, with no interference from HP.

Juniper NXTWORK

I attended the Juniper NXTWORK conference as a guest of Juniper in 2015 and 2016. Juniper paid for my flights, accommodation and event access as well as feeding me conference food while there. There is no ‘quid pro quo’ at these events, and I am welcome to blog about anything or nothing, with no interference from Juniper.