About DCM
This slick, four-color, fifty-plus page bimonthly magazine is the members-only publication of AFCOM with a 50/50 split between editorial and advertising. Our readers are data center managers, MIS directors, CIOs, and other IS professionals.

Each issue of DCM has five feature articles of about 2,000 words each. Typically, four deal with some aspect of data center technology and one addresses a management issue. All articles must be written in a journalistic style with a strong, practical slant toward the data center management community without any trace of preferential treatment toward a product, service, or vendor. Articles from freelancers (average three per issue) may report feedback from data center managers on products and services. However, articles from vendors (average two per issue) may discuss technologies and techniques, but not specific products or services.

DCM includes regular bimonthly columns. In addition to our time-honored Best Practices, Data Center Profile, Data Center Insights, and Data Center Institute Report columns, the following column is new for 2006:
“Ask the Experts” – This column features topics based on recent AFCOM hotline inquiries; experts in the field provide practical, thoughtful responses to these pertinent end-user questions.

“Data Center Manager Profile” – This is a twist on the popular “Data Center Profile” column. Instead of featuring an entire data center, we present a Q and A with a member of an innovative staff.

What Else is New in 2006?
Our editorial focus for 2006 continues with themed issues of DCM magazine. The themes are as follows:

January-February 2006 – Emerging Technologies
March-April 2006 – Vendor Relations/Vendor Management
May-June 2006 – Successful IT Management
July-August 2006 – Everything You Need to Know about Storage
September-October 2006 – Disaster Recovery
November-December 2006 – Year-End Wrap-Up (Topics vary)

Feature articles are required to have practical depth. This means we want specific examples of how challenges in data center management can be met, particularly by leveraging existing resources or the judicious selection of new ones. What especially appeals to us are the detailed descriptions of how “in-the-trenches” data center managers solve problems, face crises, and pioneer best practices. Accompanying sidebars of “how to” checklists, pros and cons, recommended resources, interviews with experts, and so on are key to providing practical depth. Feature articles must be insightful, hands-on resources that our readers will use as problem-solving guides and recommend to their peers. Bottom line: The content they read must make their jobs easier.

Topics for 2006
This topic list is subject to change without notice. Check back for updates.

1.	The Paperless Data Center
2.	Your Tape-less Future? New Disk-based Backup Options
3.	Supercomputing Clusters – Powering the World’s Largest Computers
4.	Going Mobile – Gizmos and Gadgets for the Data Center
5.	Beyond the Perimeter – Activity Auditing and the Future of Data Security
6.	How to Write an RFP
7.	Preparing for Vendor Visits
8.	Buying What You Need – Not What Suppliers Have to Sell
9.	Maintenance Contracts
10.	Integrating Open Source and Proprietary Software
11.	What You Could Be Saving
12.	Solutions for Efficient IT Operations
13.	You v. Them: Breaking Down the Barriers between IT and Corporate Management
14.	Is Virtualization Right for Your Organization?
15.	Automation Makes Managing Easy – or Does It?
16.	Everything You Need to Know about Security but Were Afraid to Ask
17.	Data Center World conference coverage
18.	Standardized Storage – Are We There Yet?
19.	Storage: Today and Beyond
20.	Information Lifecycle Management – Separating the Hype from Reality
21.	Top 5 Storage Best Practices
22.	Remote Data Management
23	Disaster Recovery v. Business Continuity
24	Chasing Shadows – (IP Networks)
25	New DR Technologies
26	ICS is IC Yes!
27	Disaster Recovery Prevention
28	On-demand CPUs
29	From the Ridiculous to the Sublime (the world’s largest databases)
30	Proving the Value of IT
31	Keeping the Infrastructure Current
32	…and more

Case Studies
Very few case studies submitted to DCM by vendors are selected for publication. Most are rejected because they focus on the vendor rather than the solution. We are looking for the vendor to remain “invisible” until his or her bio at the end of the study.

How to Submit Articles
Send the managing editor a separate e-mail for each article you are submitting or proposing with the topic clearly noted in the subject line. Query letters, 75-word abstracts, press releases, or completed articles are welcome. Please include your full contact information with each submission.

What to Expect
The editor does not consider previously published material (including online content), self-promoting material, product-specific material, or simultaneous submissions for publication in DCM magazine. Your original submission will be acknowledged upon receipt. If a personal editorial reply does not arrive within 30 days of the acknowledgement, you may conclude that the submission was not accepted. If your original article is accepted, your signature on AFCOM’s publication policy will be required. If your abstract is approved, you will receive information confirming the assignment on speculation.

Payment and Rights
DCM acquires all rights to original articles. Freelancers are paid according to their expertise, but must cover their own assignment-related expenses. Kill fees are offered at the discretion of DCM. Assigned articles are paid for—upon receipt of an author’s invoice—on the fifth and twentieth of each month. Unsolicited articles are paid for upon publication.

Reprinting Your Article Later
Requests to reprint articles elsewhere after they have appeared in DCM are routinely granted at no charge, but prior permission is required. Details are available in the reprint policy. Please e-mail the managing editor to request a copy of the policy.
(cstichter@afcom.com).

Sample Copies, Media Kits, Advertising Rates
Freelancers may request sample copies from the managing editor. Vendors may request a full media kit and advertising details from sales manager Tom Bauchard at (714) 997-7966, ext. 217 or tbauchard@afcom.com.

Editorial Deadlines – 2006
January-February 2006 – Deadline: November 4, 2005
March-April 2006 – Deadline: January 6, 2006
May-June 2006 – Deadline: March 3, 2006
July-August 2006 – Deadline: May 5, 2006
September-October 2006 – Deadline: July 7, 2006
November-December 2006 – Deadline: September 8, 2006

About AFCOM
AFCOM is one of the most respected names in the data center industry, offering its members exceptional services and resources. The association counts among its prestigious members data center managers, MIS directors, CIOs, and other IS professionals from the largest corporations and government agencies throughout the world.

Founded in 1980 by Len Eckhaus, AFCOM is dedicated to supporting and helping data center managers achieve excellence. This is accomplished through facilitating networking among members, creating industry alliances, providing an interactive Web site and a trouble-shooting hotline, publishing a bimonthly magazine (DCM) and a monthly electronic newsletter (The Communiqué), and hosting two major educational conferences annually. The fall Data Center World conference is held in varying locations throughout the United States (Orlando in 2006). The spring Data Center World conference is traditionally held in Las Vegas, but will be in Atlanta in 2006. The conference includes keynote addresses, educational sessions, virtual data center tours, Vision2Vision open forum sessions and a luncheon, comprehensive trade show, optional tutorials, and much more.

Significant among AFCOM’s features is the Data Center Institute. Formed by AFCOM in 2001, the DCI board is a select group of senior data center managers and information technology vendors joined to examine and appraise issues and trends relevant to data center operations. Its charter is to provide thought leadership and direction for the industry and the press on data center-related matters. Through this group, experienced industry professionals and their organizations will have the opportunity to ensure that informed opinions about data center issues are properly disseminated to the public.

AFCOM’s expanded online Resource Center has an ongoing need for editorial content, templates, white papers, and so on. DCM editorial requirements apply to online content.