IT magazine Technology Decisions launches, Voice + Data closes
A publishing company has closed an 11-year old technology magazine, but has launched a title in its place.
Westwick Farrow Media is calling time on IT and communications magazine Voice + Data, and relaunching it as pureplay IT title Technology Decisions.
The revamped magazine is to publish seven editions a year, including a CeBIT special edition, cutting the frequency from Voice+Data, which published 11 times a year.
Beginning with a October/November issue, Technology Decisions launches with a print run of 9,500 with 7,200 mailed to existing Voice+Data subscribers and other IT decision makers.
The magazine will also be sent to members of TechTarget ANZ, a network of websites Westwick Farrow Media ran until earlier this year, with a subscription offer.
Technology Decisions will also be distributed in newsagents – a first for the publisher. It is also increasing the frequency of its newsletter from fortnightly to weekly, and offers events, lead generation and a website.
The editor of the magazine is Anthony Caruana, who was previously the chief editor at TechTarget ANZ. Caruana is also chief information officer at a private school in Melbourne.
Caruana said: “Local stories really matter. We have many specific local issues like privacy laws, NBN, energy pricing and regulation that just aren’t the same as he US and Europe. By having local experts and local journalists we can provide local insight rather than generic views.”
“As editor, I’m one of the few IT journos that has worked at the coal face as well as reporting. That gives me a different perspective on technology decision making. I can back the theory and analysis with practical experience,” he said.
Westwick Farrow Media is also revamping Electrical Solutions magazine to cater for a comms and data audience. The relaunched title is called ECD Solutions, standing for Electrical, Comms and Data, and the November/December edition will be its first.
The changes come at a topsy-turvy time for the IT publishing sector, which was hit by the closure of MIS Magazine and the Fin Review’s ‘Information’ section early this year.
Geoff Hird, publisher of Westwick Farrow Media, said that by sticking with print his company was “swimming upstream” in the IT publishing sector.
The launch comes ahead of Magazine Week, where Hird will be presenting research from global magazine industry body FIPP. Hird is chairman of Publishers Australia, which is organising the event.
Good luck with the new magazine, Tony.
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