Smoky Backyards and Back Rooms

By David Byrd

I had a series of grilling moments this weekend beginning with a London broil. Although, the original London broil was made with flank steak, most sold today consist of top sirloin or round steak. It needs to be marinated in olive oil, garlic and lemon juice or vinegar overnight. Next, grilled over high heat to medium rare and sliced as thinly as possible against the grain. The meat will be a little chewy but very flavorful. The following morning I simmered a few slices cut into cubes in pickling spices until very tender and made corned beef hash.  Saturdays dinner was grilled lobster using Greek seasonings with fettuccini tossed with vegetables marinated in olive oil. While I knew the lobster would be good, the pasta dish was a very pleasant surprise. The marinated vegetables consisted of mushrooms, olives (kalamata and green olives), artichokes, roma tomatoes, cherry peppers with a chiffonade of fresh basil added for brightness. I topped it with cracked pepper and grated parmesan cheese at the table. Sunday, I lightly smoked and then grilled thick pork chops which I glazed with a bourbon barbeque sauce. This was served with sautéed cabbage. I also had an idea for a new ice cream, smoked vanilla with maple candied bacon. I smoked some cream while cooking the chops and then used that for the vanilla base. I then coated double-smoked bacon with maple syrup and brown sugar. It was baked at 350^oF until the sugar melted and became like candy. This was finely chopped and mixed with the smoked vanilla cream. The result was fantastic. Gay and I may actually eat it ourselves given the unrelenting Texas heat. However, the recipe of the week is Sautéed Cabbage. It is really good. Enjoy!

Smoke-Filled Back Rooms

I havent read anything discussing the raising of the debt ceiling and the impact on IP communications or telecommunications overall. I think its because the subject has too many political overtones. After all, the debate is between the Republicans, Democrats and Tea Party activists. Yet, the impact on our industry could be devastating given the long-term debt communications carriers service.

The debt-ceiling deal that will be voted on this week has been preceded by other deals that have not been shared with the members of Congress or the public. It has been eye-opening to hear about these back-room negotiations but know none of the details. Even the so called agreement” has sections that are very unclear and we will need to wait months before knowing what real changes in spending will result. And that is only if the legislation passes both houses, no certain thing.

Yet, as I type this blog, world markets have had a very good day and the Dow futures are up 1 percent. This bodes well for those that have money in the markets and if the U.S. credit rating remains unchanged it will not impact telecom borrowing rates. Telecom debt-to-equity ratio is rising and keeping interest rates at their current lows is important as carriers attempt to service their debt. Broadvox is a privately held company and while our financials are not public, we are well managed. However, others in our industry would definitely face mounting pressures to address their debt if rates were to suddenly rise. That would affect network deployments, acquisitions and employment. Surviving the beginning of this century in this industry was hard. Lets not have to address that in this decade as well.

Resolve the thing and lets move on to other issues.

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 20 years of telecom sales and marketing experience, he has held executive positions with Hewlett-Packard, Sprint and Ericsson.