Journalists are hopelessly addicted to the newest, coolest technologies to hit the street. To a certain extent that's good, as part of our job is to get you information about emerging trends or technologies as soon as possible, so you have ample time to consider if they might be useful in your environments. But the "wow" factor can be like a drug to some of us covering storage, as we're forever hoping to be the one to pull the covers off some new "disruptive" technology that will forever change the way storage gets done.

Luckily, there's an antidote to the allure of the bleeding edge: talking with the people who use these technologies--or are trying to use them--on a day-to-day basis. I started thinking about this as we put together last month's "Hot technologies for 2007" article. Our take on "hot" isn't about stuff that might become products in five or 10 years, but rather on what can add a little sizzle to your shop right now. We try to work our way through a haze of hype to find the technologies that are warm enough now (with a detectable pulse) to become hot in short order.