Peer-to-Peer Blog: Jambalaya and a Movie

Friday evening I made pan-seared steaks. They were very good seasoned with my white seasoning mixture which developed a great browned crust quickly. Saturday was cheese fries for my wife and leftover chili for me. However, I was looking forward to having jambalaya on Sunday. I was actually surprised that I had not made it in the two years of writing this blog. I like jambalaya a lot but it is a difficult dish to make when there are just two of you in the house. It is best served for families or a group. With that in mind, since there are just two of us, I make the complete recipe but do not add the rice to the pot. Instead, I use a ratio of 4:1 when we are ready to eat Jambalaya (example: ½ cup rice to 2 cups jambalaya mixture). This also makes it possible to twist things up later and have the jambalaya mixture with pasta or even served over baked potatoes. Jambalaya is a very flexible dish as it can be either a main course or appetizer. As a main course, I dice the protein (meat, poultry, seafood) into one-inch cubes. As an appetizer, I dice the protein into ½ inch or smaller cubes. Finally, I like to add some infrequently used ingredients such as canned crab, summer savory and chervil as they add depth and character to the finished dish. So, the recipe of the week is Jambalaya. Enjoy!

Its All About the Movies

Level 3 and Comcast have been going at it publicly for a week now highlighting the traffic increase caused by the new Netflix streaming product. Originally, I found the discussion useful to cover capacity issues that our VARs and customers face. I also thought the initial dispute was about peering arrangements between the two companies. However, Level 3 sees the issue as a Net neutrality case. Their view is that with peering, Level 3 could simply choose another path or carrier to deliver the traffic. However, in this case that is not possible. Level 3 is delivering the customer purchased traffic to Comcast because Comcast is the customers ISP. There is no alternative route possible. It is also true that every ISP could ultimately claim the same increase in price as Comcast, if it determines the customers Internet information purchase is greater than what the ISP wants to deliver.

Charging Level 3 avoids the more customer-sensitive solution of increasing prices to the customer. It is worth noting that to our north, Canadian ISPs have established usage based pricing (UBP). The current result is higher prices for all levels of usage, low to high. The FCC has indicated a preference for UBP but, of course, cannot establish what the levels should be or the tiered prices. Instead, they intend to release the hounds and maintain a watchful eye. Cautiously, I am a supporter of UBP. Yet, I acknowledge it is ripe for abuse and offers little consumer protection.

I wonder if any members of the FCC have ever downloaded a movie. Julius, the ball is in your court.

David Byrd is vice president of marketing and sales for

Broadvox

, and is responsible for marketing and channel sales programs to SMBs, enterprises and carriers as well as defining the product offering. Prior to joining Broadvox, David was the Vice President of Channels and Alliances for Eftia and Telcordia. As Director of eBusiness Development with i2 Technologies, he developed major partnerships with many of the leaders in Internet eCommerce and supply chain management. As CEO of Planet Hollywood Online he was a pioneer in using early internet technologies to build a branded entertainment and eCommerce website company partnered with Planet Hollywood. Having over twenty years of Telecom sales and marketing experience, he has held executive positions with Hewlett-Packard, Sprint and Ericsson.