This paper elaborates on the emerging area of reconfigurable optical and wireless mesh architectures from the standpoint of carrier and users’ needs and technology evolution. It first examines the limitations of legacy optical and wireless networks, then looks at some emerging technologies, provides the drivers for these specific implementations and gives an insight understanding on their functionality and capabilities for providing next generation applications. It examines the role and realisation of reconfiguration in optical and wireless networks from the standpoint of user needs and requirements where the user is a network operator or the end user.