) reliability by using a backup hybrid optical/microwave link. Its solution will fit within any carrier network protocol or topology, including mesh, point-to-point, ring, and point-to-multipoint configura- tions. Flight consists of three critical elements. The first element is Flight- Transport, which is an optical transceiving equipment unit. The second element is FlightManager, which is a robust SNMP-based network man- agement interface between the FSO link heads and the customer's network operations center (NOC). The third element is FlightNavigator, which is a tool set that permits deployment simplicity and has the capability to per- Free-Space Optics (FSO) form network traffic-monitoring functions such as traffic simulation and link availability analysis. Optical Access Inc. has introduced a carrier-class Optical Access Mesh, which features a built-in radio frequency (RF) wire- less backup system to handle potential downtime caused by transmission attenuation. It supports Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and includes switching and routing technology that enables bandwidth distrib- ution and provisioning for IP networks. Optical Access Mesh contains Terescope (laser transceiver), OptiSwitch, SNMP Access, and MegaVision (network management system). A Canadian-based FSO manufacturer called fSONA introduced the SONAbeam product, which transmits at speeds ranging from 155 Mbps to 1.25 Gbps and can be configured in dif- ferent topologies such as point-to-point and inter-LAN. This product also has a radio-based wireless backup to tackle against weather interference. 9.2 Financial Aspect of FSO 9.2.1 Comparison Between FSO and Other Established Access Technologies Among the first-mile and last-mile access technologies that are available and well established today, some of these technologies are more suitable for certain geographical environments and/or populations. The most well- known access technology that is utilized by both residential and commer- cial users in an urban or rural area is offered via copp