The SURA Optical Networking Cookbook is a practical resource that details the ingredients required for optical networking and offers "recipes" in the form of case studies that illustrate a variety of optical networking implementations. The cookbook draws heavily upon the advanced networking activities of the higher education and research communities and serves as a tool to share knowledge, expertise and best practices gained in advanced networking by R&E, government, and industry. This Cookbook will be a valuable resource for any community or organization that is considering implementing optical networking capabilities.

The Cookbook has been developed by SURA in collaboration with a working group of SURA members and national academic networking experts. The framework and general principles are formulated by information collected from the NSF-funded Optical Technologies Workshop hosted by SURA and MCNC on December13-14, 2001. Current project leads are Ana Preston, University of Tennessee and Troy Travis, University of South Carolina.