Optical networking presents both fundamental challenges and tremendous opportunities for the research and education community, and particularly for the advanced needs of research universities.  Work underway in the Internet2 community has yielded real progress towards creating integrated designs for national and regional optical networking infrastructures. This session will provide an overview of National Lambda Rail and FiberCo, and will include a case study on a regional optical project in the state of Connecticut. From the Series:Internet2 Fall 2003 Member Meeting