It may surprise some to know that many network operators buy backbone hardware platforms (DWDM transmission, cell carrier systems, etc) configure, operate, fiel

It may surprise some to know that many network operators buy backbone hardware platforms (DWDM transmission, cell carrier systems, etc) configure, operate, field-service, and even finance these lumps of custom hardware with their ASICS and line cards (plus standard CPUs and regular network interfaces) via the equipment vendor. They buy them with money loaned from the vendor (lower cost of capital), design and config the network with vendor people, and keep them running with people wearing Nokia, Huawei, Ericsson socks. These systems tend to have quite a long lifetime in the field.