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John, just one remark on this: multiplexors (and tech. stuff in general) are
bought by nerds who know their field well and presumably hate hyping. That's
why our data sheets are hype-free. What you described goes well with
consumer goods.
Erika
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We're talking about different situations.
Your situation: I'm a NOC Manager and one of my routers blew, so I need a
new router. I buy touters, I know what they do, what they don't do, and what
are good specs when I see them. Data sheets are fine. OTOH, your data sheet
isn't marcom. By your own admission, there IS no marketing involved. Just
the facts.
My situation: One our customers has decided to overhaul their NOC because
they're switching from a Win2000 network to a Linux network..the CTO has
taken an interest in Linux all of a sudden. Big bucks...millions. Lots of
stuff to buy. Some of it, some people are current on what the industry is
offering, some not. The purchase is going to be evaluated by a
committee...the CTO, the NOC manager, reps from the major users of the
network; HR, Purchasing, SAP, Security and Intrusion, Order Fulfillment, a
bean counter or two, and a team of nerds. They're getting multi-hundred
page proposals from three vendors and each party on the team will be given a
copy of the section(s) that they might be interested in, then told to come
back with their preliminary thoughts in a week.
Some know some stuff, others know other stuff. I, as a technical writer
putting my document together, want to make sure that everyone on the team
sees the technical and economic value of all parts of the submission. So,
I'm going to include data sheets for the nerds. I'm going to put ROI
information for the financial people. I'm putting value information for the
executives. I'm putting something for everyone because I don't know what is
going to ring who's bell.
See the difference?
John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
john -at- tdandw -dot- com
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