In conversation with… Tom Coughlin of Forbes

Tom Coughlin is President of Coughlin Associates and a storage analyst and consultant. He has over 37 years in the data storage industry and has held multiple engineering and management positions. Tom is the author of “Digital Storage in Consumer Electronics: The Essential Guide.”

1. How do you begin your workday?
Stretching, feed animals, eat breakfast, walk dogs, then log onto my email and projects. 

2. How did you get your start in journalism? 
I am actually an engineer by background but I did a lot of writing and started writing articles on technologies and their implications. 

3. What’s the most memorable PR pitch you’ve gotten?
Two come to mind, mostly because of the interesting subject, rather than the way it was pitched. One concerning pausable data centers for use near sustainable energy sources—e.g. windpower. The second was about building data centers in earth orbit.

4. What do you think are the must-have ingredients for a solid story?
An interesting topic with facts backing it up and a narrative that leads the reader to expand their current world view.

5. What’s one thing people would be surprised to know about you? 
I am very active in the IEEE (people that know me wouldn’t be surprised), I like to go on long hikes and brew beer.