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COST - the acronym for European COoperation in Science and Technology - is the oldest and widest European intergovernmental network for cooperation in - search. Established by the Ministerial Conference in November 1971, COST is presently used by the scientific communities of 35 European countries to coop- ate in common research projects supported by national funds. The funds provided by COST - less than 1% of the total value of the projects - support the COST cooperation networks (COST Actions) through which, with EUR 30 million per year, more than 30,000 European scientists are involved in - search having a total value which exceeds EUR 2 billion per year. This is the financial worth of the European added value which COST achieves. A "bottom up approach" (the initiative of launching a COST Action comes from the European scientists themselves), "a la carte participation" (only countries interested in the Action participate), "equality of access" (participation is open also to the scientific communities of countries not belonging to the European - ion) and "flexible structure" (easy implementation and light management of the research initiatives) are the main characteristics of COST.

Towards Digital Optical Networks

I.- Novel Transponder Interfaces: Novel Modulation Formats.- Electronic Channel Equalization Techniques.- Optical Signal Processing Techniques for Signal Regeneration and Digital Logic.- Evolution of Optical Access Networks.- Novel Switch Architectures.- II.- Cross-Layer Optimization Issues for Realizing Transparent Mesh Optical Networks.- Performance Issues in Optical Burst/Packet Switching.- Multi-layer Traffic Engineering (MTE) in Grooming Enabled ASON/GMPLS Networks.- Network Resilience in Future Optical Networks.- Optical Storage Area Networks.- III.- Software Tools and Methods for Modelling Physical Layer Issues.- Software Tools and Methods for Research and Education in Optical Networks.