In this column, the author discusses the four key questions related to the National LambdaRail (NLR) networking technology. NLR uses Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) to enable multiple networks to coexist on a national fiber footprint, and is owned and operated not by carriers, but by the research and education community. The NLR Board operates as a cooperative partnership and most board members represent coalitions of a dozen or more research universities. NLR provides a unique approach to connecting researchers across the country (and beyond) through flexible, high-performance optical network capabilities serving diverse communities of computational scientists, systems researchers, and networking researchers.