| Optical Level | Electrical Level | Line Rate (Mbps) | Payload Rate (Mbps) | Overhead Rate (Mbps) | SDH Equivalent |
| OC-1 | STS-1 | 51.840 | 50.112 | 1.728 | - |
| OC-3 | STS-3 | 155.520 | 150.336 | 5.184 | STM-1 |
| OC-9 | STS-9 | 466.560 | 451.008 | 15.552 | STM-3 |
| OC-12 | STS-12 | 622.080 | 601.344 | 20.736 | STM-4 |
| OC-18 | STS-18 | 933.120 | 902.016 | 31.104 | STM-6 |
| OC-24 | STS-24 | 1244.160 | 1202.688 | 41.472 | STM-8 |
| OC-36 | STS-36 | 1866.240 | 1804.032 | 62.208 | STM-13 |
| OC-48 | STS-48 | 2488.320 | 2405.376 | 82.944 | STM-16 |
| OC-96 | STS-96 | 4976.640 | 4810.752 | 165.888 | STM-32 |
| OC-192 | STS-192 | 9953.280 | 9621.504 | 331.776 | STM-64 |
| OC-768 | STS-768 | 39818.120 | 38486.016 | 1327.104 | STM-256 |
OC-9, OC-18, OC-24, OC-36, OC-96 are considered orphaned rates.
Tutorials and General Backgrounders
Tektronix: A good tutorial.
SONET Rings
Turning Up and Testing a Six Node SONET Ring
Synchronization
Sonet Sync: A guide to sonet ring synchronization with practical examples of how sync messaging and sync auto reconfig are used.
SDH
SDH Primer [Tektronix]
Metro Ethernet, Optical Modules
Pluggable Optical Modules - A brief overview of pluggable technology [XENPAK, SFP, XFP, XAUI]
10 Gigabit Ethernet - A short discussion of LAN/WAN PHY, LX4 and LRM standards and GE nomenclature
Delay Limitations When Extending Metro Ethernet Into The Wide Area
Diffential Delay in Ethernet over SONET Networks
DWDM And Optical Networking
WSS: Understanding Degrees of Freedom, the wavelength selective switch, ROADMs and WXCs
Understanding EDFAs, Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers
ITU Grid for 50GHz and 100GHz channel spacing for long, conventional, and short wavelength bands
MONET - Multiwavelength Optical Networking Project.
Network Management
SONET DCC: A great primer on OSI and ip sonet DCC internetworking
SONET DCN: [19MB] A niffty paper describing the Data Communications Network used for network management and an OSI to IP migration path. Marben
Other Links
Cell-Relay Retreat A fantastic source for mostly ATM information.
Web Pro Forum There is a lot of stuff here, some of which is linked to on this page.
The Glass Menagerie This is Cornings Web Site. I have link as well as well as on the vendor page because there is a lot of good stuff here on fiber and how to characterize it. They make you register so I can't link to it directly.