'Did You Call Me Last Week?'

5:50 PM -- Maybe it's me, but connecting with storage suppliers appears to be getting tougher, not easier. You'd think a few years covering the storage beat would help grease the wheels, but in fact, it appears to make them move more slowly than ever -- with a horrible grinding noise.

Case in point: One morning last week, I called up a storage supplier, who shall remain nameless. Would there be a chance that he could offer a comment on his product for an upcoming story?

That was Thursday. Early Monday morning, the supplier phoned to offer his comment.

"You called me last week about... But I was in Europe." Sadly, he didn't leave that info on his voicemail. Needless to say, the article went on without him.

Another morning last week, I read with interest news of the affiliation of two storage-related industry groups, one of which has four letters in its name, starting with "S." Quickly, I dialed up the contact given in the release and left a few questions on voicemail. I followed up with email.A couple of hours later, someone wrote back to say that the main contact was out of the office (on today of all days), but answers would be forthcoming. I waited. And waited. Finally, long after my deadline, another email arrived. An answer, it appeared, would be coming later that day.

Trouble was, I live on the East Coast. And long, long after my deadline -- in fact, long after anyone on the East Coast might be stirring at work, an answer arrived.

Other pain points: the external PR contact who's apparently dialing in from the Caribbean every other day; the companies (and there are lots of them) that publish their press releases without any contact name and number; and (my personal favorite) vendors that demand you fill out an email form and send your inquiry to an anonymous mailbox.

To all these I say: Nice try. If you avoid the press, you might find that when you do have something to say, you'll have no one at the other end to take your message and let it rot in the inbox. No one even to say: "Did you call me last week?"

Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch0