the first big year for substantial metro DWDM deployment to occur in the United States, with the market reaching $500 million in 2005. CIR predicts Verizon will be the biggest buyer of metro DWDM ring equipment among the RBOCs, with the regulated por- tion of Qwest being the next largest user, followed by more staunch SONET multiprotocol gear supporters, SBC and BellSouth. Simply put, metro optical networking market development will remain stuck in neutral until we see more widespread acceptance of DWDM ring technology by the RBOCs and other metro carriers. It has been the classic chicken and the egg scenario since early 1997, in which the industry has been waiting for a critical mass of wave- lengths in the metro space to enable both the OADM and optical switching markets to develop. But, until the vendors can provide a combination of lower cost and engineering-friendly DWDM products with true ring capability, the Chapter 5 all-optical vision in the metro segment will not begin to be realized. CIR believes that the truth about the metro space reflects the economic realities of today, and not the market hype indicating that there are quick-fix elixirs. Most carriers will continue to consolidate spending and look for operational and cost efficiencies. The mergers between the different RBOCs and GTE over the past five years have left large amounts of room for carriers to reduce head counts as well as to consolidate networks and organizations. Many of the emerging carriers that burst onto the scene with great fanfare promoting bet- ter, faster, and cheaper services are now on shaky financial footing. The over- all economy's slowdown will translate into slowing demand for services, which means that incumbent carriers will strive to get by with as much of their legacy gear as they can as they work through the correction. CIR believes that companies such as Lucent, Nortel, Fujitsu and Cisco will most likely dominate the space based on their installed base and sheer size. Riverstone will lead Ethernet vendors, but by ba