he importance of the metro marketplace; aggressive revamping of their overall network infrastruc- tures; a much stronger focus on both element and network management; an aggressive examination of the services that customers actually want and a plan to deliver them cost effectively; and a strong focus on both enterprise and residence customer requirements. Circuit-to-Packet The circuit-to-packet migration plan stems from the convergence activity that is underway throughout the greater industry. There is no question that circuit-based services such as voice, ATM, and frame relay will be around for some time to come, but there is aggressive movement going on with regard to packet migration. Companies are rapidly developing and rolling out service packages that rely on IP, softswitch technology, and packet-based services, including voice. The VoIP marketplace for wire- less, Centrex, and PBX service alone is enormous. Now that the industry is back on its feet and money is moving in, this trend will accelerate. VoIP is a critical success component and not simply because it helps the telco reduce costs. It is critical because it facilitates the delivery of a new suite of converged applications and services that represent new revenue streams for the telco. There is nothing more important than that. Metro Markets Because of the diverse, multiprotocol nature of the metro marketplace and the ongoing evolution of the corporation-from operating out of a single metro-based location to a distributed corporate architecture with offices scattered throughout customer locations-metro has become one of the fastest growing market sectors for service providers. And because optical technology has taken root in the metro rather effectively, with low-cost, multichannel DWDM technology offering lower cost solutions due to optical's ability to reduce the total number of network elements under management control, it garners attention. Today, ILECs control Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibr