In the continuing effort to improve competitiveness, many enterprises now realize that distributed legacy LAN networks are no longer capable of meeting communications requirements. A centralized passive optical LAN (POL) architecture eliminates the networking limitations imposed by copper-based Cat 5/Cat 6 cabling. This paper presents the value of an enterprise POL based on a Bell Labs economic analysis. It examines the financial benefits of an optical network compared to traditional copper-based Ethernet architectures. Also discussed in this white paper is why a POL provides the most cost-effective option to meet the gigabit speed networking challenges of a future digital enterprise.