OTN switching is desired by the majority of carriers surveyed, and it is apparent that this feature is a requirement that should be integrated into most WDM transport platforms in the metro and in virtually all higher-density DWDM systems for the core. Likewise, optical shared mesh protections plays a minor role today in carrier networks, but if operators get their way it will be dominant by 2016 along with more meshed topologies in general. It will be important to see whether vendors can build platforms that integrate OTN switching and DWDM where both functions can scale in the future without a compromise in either individual function.