When the idea of Analog Avenue was conceived a little over three years ago, the suggested name was Analog Alley, but I felt that suggested coverage would be too narrow for the audience we were looking for. One of the most important reasons that I moved from a print publication to the web was that print gave me insufficient pages for the material I wanted to present. When I looked at the ratio of the pages of advertising of analog products to the amount of analog coverage that it was possible to provide, it was evident that the analog industry was getting short shrift.

Being able to present the material I wanted on the web has two additional, important, benefits that we needed to take advantage of: Speed and archiving. In terms of speed, there was no longer the six week hiatus between being told that the pages of the magazine were closing -- to go to the press -- to its actual delivery to the subscriber. Conversely at Analog Avenue we can get things posted in hours instead of weeks and the reviews of products often reflect that fast-moving pace. In terms of archiving, everything that has ever appeared on Analog Avenue is archived, is available to readers 24/7, and is called up by the better search engines.

Did the promise of increased coverage and content become a fulfilled promise? Oh, yes. Apart from at least one Editorial a month, often more, we have reviewed 640 analog products on these pages and published 55 Columns and 53 TechNotes to date. Even in this short holiday month of December 2000 we have published a total of 68 pages of information including 5 Columns/TechNotes, plus 2 Editorials, 8 product reviews and a product roundup feature for the year. Those pages have no match in any other publication even partially addressing analog engineering.

Our system of product reviews -- started here on Analog Avenue and now a common feature set of the ChipCenter Knowledge Centers -- is also unique in publishing. Nowhere else will you find a group of editors who have been willing to put their opinions and reputations so much on the line by saying what they think about products; we do not take press releases and regurgitate them as news but, rather, we present the information provided by the manufacturer and then offer our opinions about it.

I liken our present publishing pattern -- whenever I am given the opportunity! -- as being similar to the knowledge changes that took place in the first half of the 16th Century: Until then most significant information was almost totally controlled by the Church; a priest would both translate from the Latin and interpret the Bible for his congregation with no chance of opposition or objection. Then the printing press started to churn out copies of the Bible in English (smuggled into England) and those who were able, and wanted, to make their own interpretations grew very fast. People such as Sir Thomas More were employed by the Church to write tracts in opposition to the interpretations that were thought to be heretic, or unsafe. But that was an action that was too late to regain control.

In present business-to-business publishing we have the same changeover taking place. A journalist interpreting a press release is going to do it in his/her own way and also has to provide that interpretation in a fixed space -- one that has been defined by somebody else. With the Internet, press releases are available to everybody -- not just journalists -- and you are free to go read them and make up your own mind. Our added value at Analog Avenue is in filtering for the best and then offering an opinion you can accept or not. But it is always an opinion based on our special knowledge of the manufacturers, their capabilities, their road maps, and their competition. But we do make mistakes -- and both manufacturers and readers are quick to let us know.

It has also been much easier to understand what readers want on the web than it ever was in print because of the measured response that we get. We know which columns and which sorts of technology readers read, and which they don't; we have learned a lot of the hot buttons and we have been surprised at some of the cold buttons. But by any measure readership is the most important number that is sought by the sponsors of our pages -- which in turn is our livelihood -- and the readership of Analog Avenue and its constant growth has been extremely gratifying.

So, in this holiday season I would like to say thank you: To my readers who have stayed with us despite name changes and jumps; to our sponsors who have found the value of focused analog material that brings with it the kind of reader they want to attract; to my boss for believing in community and the ability of an editor to manage his own Knowledge Center; and to my esteemed editorial colleagues for coming on board for the ride.

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