earing obsolescence, then an IP overlay is probably worth considering. Or, if the telco is about to offer ser- vice in a greenfield (new, devoid of services) market, then IP is worth con- sidering. Alternatively, if the service provider is facing a situation in which a switch is nearing capacity and will potentially require real estate expansion to accommodate the new equipment required, then IP is worth considering because of its reduced floor space requirements. Finally, if the service provider is operating in a region with a high degree of business penetration, or is in an area where fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) is being considered, then IP represents a serious advantage and should be considered as a key infrastructure component. Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. Telecom Market Segments Telecom Market Segments Management Network and element management, like staff training, are often the first things cut from the budget and the last things implemented. Perhaps that's a bit harsh, but not by much. One of the loudest complaints voiced by customers, especially enterprise customers, is billing complexity. Cus- tomers claim to want a single, simple-to-understand bill1 for all of their network services. And because of the diverse and logically disconnected nature of the network elements that come into play when provisioning customer services, the actual provisioning process is often slow, inaccu- rate, and expensive. Reduction of managed elements and the creation of an aggressively accurate and capable management interface must be of paramount importance to incumbent service providers. Furthermore, there is ample evidence to suggest that the manage- ment systems operated by service providers since time began will soon be inadequate to handle the evolving demands of the services market- place. Those systems are based on a model of predi