Editorial Guidelines for Contributed Articles

Converge! Network Digest publishes an on-going series of in-depth articles on next generation network architecture. Our Guest Columns are intended to foster discussion of next generation networking technologies and architectures. We welcome a range of topics extending from innovations at the silicon and optical component layer, through core switching and routing systems, access technologies and advanced voice/data services.

Blueprint: Telco Triple Play -- Covering the industry migration from first generation broadband to fully-converged, triple play services. Provides technical insights and industry perspectives on the enabling network architecture for Triple Play services.

Blueprint: IMS -- Analyzes the technologies and strategies needed to migrate to the IMS architecture. Provides technical insights and industry perspectives on the enabling network architecture for VoIP. Covers SIP, ENUM, DNS, SS7 signaling and TDM-to-VoIP migration.

Blueprint: Metro Ethernet -- Analyzes Ethernet's historic ascendancy from the LAN to MAN and WAN. Provides insight into how carrier networks are being re-engineered to take advantage of Ethernet's ubiquity, cost-points and new technical capabilities. Looks at how enterprises can leverage these trends to achieve network convergence.

Blueprint: Broadband Wireless -- Covers network architecture for next generations wireless technologies, including topics such as fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), 3/3.5/4G technologies, WiMAX, metro mesh topologies, and traffic backhaul strategies.

Blueprint: Network Security -- Covers a full range of network security topics for both enterprises and carriers.

Subscription Requirement -- Converge! Digest is a subscription-based publication widely distributed throughout the industry. Companies interested in presenting their views in our publication need to be subscribers. Subscription pricing starts at $500 per year for 240 issues of the publication. Monthly subscriptions start at $29. If your company is not already a subscriber, please enroll here

What We Are Looking For

Guest Columns should be written for the "architects of next generation networks." Our audience includes key executives at major service providers, large enterprises, government labs, network equipment suppliers and integrators, and the financial community. Please assume a very high-level of technical expertise, but do not submit an engineering brief.

Guest Columns should provide an executive-level perspective on a major technology, market, or regulatory trend or issue of immediate relevance to senior network architects.

Guest Columns should be approximately 1,500 words, and in no case more than 2,000 words in length.

Guest Columns should not be about your company's products. Specific references to your products will not be published. We are interested in how new technology is transforming the power of the network. We are not interested in articles that directly promote one company's specific services or technologies.

Send Us Your Abstract

To get started, please send a one-paragraph abstract of your proposed topic to our editor, James Carroll (jc@convergedigest.com )

Successful Samples

Many of our Blueprint columns have proven to be extremely popular and continue to drive traffic to our site even months after publication. This can be seen through excellent Google rankings. The secret is a carefully edited article that is useful to our audience. Distribution through our email newsletter pushes the content to our influential audience. They link to the article and its rating on Google builds. Try the following searches and then use these top-ranked articles as samples.

Embedded Video

Studies have shown that people retain a far greater percentage of information when compelling video is part of the document. Information on this component may be found here: About One Minute Jargon Buster Videos.

Timelines

Because we are an electronic publication, we accept material on a rolling basis. Several columns are published each week. After you submit your abstract, you will hear back from us shortly. Deadlines are assigned after the abstract idea has been agreed on.

Graphics Specifications

Author�s photo should be a professional, head-shot image in JPEG format.

Charts and diagrams are welcome in JPEG or GIF format. An alternative is to send us charts and illustrations in PowerPoint. Please do not send charts only as images pasted and embedded into Word documents. Illustrative graphics will be displayed at a maximum width of 500 pixels, so keep this size in mind when creating your graphics. For best control of the clarity of your images, size the graphics to 500 pixels wide before sending them to us. If this is not possible, we will resize them here as best we can. We offer Guest Column reprints. If you think you would like to take advantage of our reprint service, we encourage you to create your graphics in high resolution (at least 300dpi) from the beginning so that the same images can be used in the online and print versions.

Notes on Your Contribution

After receiving your materials, we will confirm the receipt of the materials and then begin our editing process. We will let you know of any questions, suggestions or other issues.

An extended synopsis of the column would appear in the daily and weekly versions of our email newsletter

At the time your article is published we will provide you with an easy way to share your article with employees, customers and prospects through an e-mail notice. This will allow you to promote your article and highlight your vision to the people important to your company. We also offer a hard-copy reprint service for a small fee. Articles and all materials contributed to this project will become the copyrighted material of Converge! Network Digest. We reserve this copyright as a protection for our publication, however we will work with you to make the materials available as widely as possible in other copyrighted works

Marketing Opportunities and Sponsorships

Our Guest columns are editorial material. They are selected based on relevance to our series. There is no cost to participate, however your company must subscribe to our publication.

In case your company is interested in marketing opportunities associated with this project, here is the pitch. As a Blueprint Sponsor, your company can get high visibility in a specific vertical segment. Please contact us ASAP if your company is interested in this opportunity.