well. Consider the fate of JDS Uniphase, a premier manufacturer of opti- cal components, which recorded the single greatest loss at the time in corporate history-$51 billion. Manufacturers as a whole saw a 26 per- cent decline in revenues year-over-year, and new orders were down more 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 than 50 percent in the same period. And while capital spending in the United States showed an admirable 25 percent growth rate, average rev- enues grew only 25 percent, while profits dropped precipitously and return on equity faltered. Between 1996 and 2000, capital expenditures in telecommunications rose from $41 billion to $110 billion-but return on capital fell 50 percent. Furthermore, since 1984, the domestic con- sumer price index is up 73 percent and local communications call volume is up 71 percent, but long-distance prices are down 35 percent-not a good sign for service providers, particularly given the capital-intensive nature of telecomm infrastructure. Even the venerable PC market saw a downturn; for 2003, growth declined from an expected level of about 13 percent to slightly less than 10 percent. Amidst all this darkness there has been good news, however. While optical transport revenues declined precipitously during the postbubble disaster, the revenues from SONET and SDH (optical transport infra- structure) sales climbed. By the end of 2005 the optical metro market- place, a strong market sector, is expected to roughly double, while the total market for IP-based VPN services will grow to approximately $14.7 billion by the beginning of 2006 because of the proliferation of mobile workers, improved mobile technology, security concerns, and changing work models. Technology Indicators Several technology sectors show promise and are recovering more rapidly tha