llows: we have learned that while there is little evidence to support the 'urban legend' of an Internet that doubles every 3- 4 months, neither we find any evidence that the Internet has engaged in a 'relentless process of slowing' as alleged by a prestigious Wall St. firm. And the reason we can't find any evidence of the latter is because there isn't any."25 Based on what is described as the "first scientific study of Internet growth since 1996," Caspian Networks reported a 2001 growth at an annual rate of 4 times a year through early 2001, equating to a 200 percent yearly growth2 (others have quoted a growth of 100 percent per year). (The doubling of the rate every 3 months would equate to an annual growth of 700 percent per year.) However, some carriers did report a slowdown to a 120 percent growth a year, while the financial press offers lower figures par- ticularly 2002.25 Caspian Networks estimates that 80 percent of the IP traffic is enterprise driven from corporations that are increasingly turning to the Internet for cost reductions. The Yankee Group estimated that 21 Advances and Opportunities in Next-Generation SONET percent of North American multinational corporations (for example, Global 500) had an OC-3 or higher network connection in 2001; that number is projected to reach 34 percent by 2003. Although there was overbuilding in 2000, proponents see renewed growth beyond 2002, making statements such as "lit fibers are heavily loaded network performance will degrade. Any carrier that fails to upgrade in time risks losing market share and rev- enue to competitors."25 Optical-networking challenges are increasingly geared not just at obtain- ing higher rates,27 but also at provisioning services effectively and reliably to end users. This is accomplished with a full set of OAM&P capabilities in the architecture and/or equipment. The end users and their applications fuel the demand for bandwidth. The rates currently found in high-end enterprise networks, storage area networks (SANs), application service pro