ry combined with the technology revolu- tion, conventional voice-based switching technology is being pushed out of commission. The infra- structure is being replaced by packet-based architectures using new hardware and software technologies. The deployment of these new technologies not only costs as little as 10 to 20 percent of the previous generation of systems, but it also enables the consolidation of multiservice voice and data transmission with much greater efficiency. Since 2000, data communication has overtaken traditional voice traffic (tomsu). 33 The explosive proliferation of Internet connectivity and corporate and organi- zational intranets and extranets is a new reality. Carriers have no other choice than to evolve their net- work to the new technologies. This new type of consolidated network is invariably called the new network or the converged net- work. The gigantic process of uprooting the older network infrastructure and adding the newer trans- mission and switching systems has been dubbed as the convergence of networks. We will use this phrase throughout in our discussion. OPTICAL NETWORKING BREAKTHROUGHS The wide-scale deployment of fiber optics as the successor of the old and tried copper cable was one of the fundamental factors leading to the proliferation of high-speed networks. 34,35 Signals could optically transmitted and the new technique produced a sharp decrease in transmission losses. It also provided higher security against passive eavesdroppers than copper cables, which usually generate radiation in their vicinity and can be easily tapped. Optical fibers allow the transmission of signals for many tens of miles without requiring traditional signal recovery, filtering, and reamplification. The development of many generations of suitable integrated lasers and advanced doped-fiber opti- cal amplifiers in the two major spectral windows of transmission in conjunction with WDM increased the capacity of the cable dramatically. 36 This meant that the sheer number of simultaneous transmis- sio