The hottest issue in telecom today is how to solve the Metro Area bandwith bottleneck - with SONET being the solution that appeals most to telecom companies. But to compete against Ethernet, SONET will need plenty of finetuning. This book will help service providers compare their options and fully understand what is really necessary to give current SONET installations "next generation" capabilities.- Shows how to achieve new-generation features with enhanced SONET and other optical architectures- Compares SONET's features and services with rival Ethernet-based offerings- Offers design approaches and business models for real-world deployments- Covers GMPLS (generalized MPLS), a red-hot switching technology for wavelength services