The Players

PRIMUS Managed Hosting Solutions

Located in Lynn since 1990, when it was known as Eco Software, PRIMUS Managed Hosting Solutions (formerly Shore.Net) specializes in managed dedicated hosting. As part of the Primus Telecommunications Group, a billion-dollar company with a global network and worldwide data centers, PRIMUS serves as a link to the Internet for both individuals and companies. Whether that link is a DSL line, or high-bandwidth T1 and T3 lines suitable for mission-critical applications, PRIMUS offers connections to the Internet at speeds suitable for small companies to large corporations.

PRIMUS' location, at the heart of the Cyber District, puts it right across the street from the Goldblock Project, a renovation by Oasis Development of almost an entire city block to bring it into the Internet age. PRIMUS' ability to wire an entire building for Internet access means the Goldblock project will be pre-wired for Internet access before the first tenants sign a lease.

Another building in downtown Lynn, The ClockTower Place, is already wired for Internet use, and is rapidly filling with tenants.

The advantage of having a pre-wired building is that a company doesn't have to pay the local phone company's line-usage charges. The entire high-speed connection is maintained by PRIMUS, and is, in fact, an extension of their network.

360 Networks

360 Networks, a Canadian firm based in Vancouver, B.C., is building a fiber optic cable that originates in Dublin, Ireland, and will come ashore in Lynn near the Nahant traffic circle. The two-inch cable, buried about four feet below the ocean floor, can handle 1.28 terabits per second. Put another way, that's 12 million phone calls per second - the equivalent of all of the Mother's Day phone calls made in the U.S. at one time. Known as the Hibernia system, the cable will be one of the most advanced fiber optic cables in the world when construction is finished in 2001, and its significance lies in the fact that it can offer wholesale rates on secure data transmission - just the thing for growing Internet or telecommunications companies.

Part of a system that extends all the way to England, the cable is actually a two-line main circuit that runs from Halifax, N.S. to Dublin, with tails at the ends of the loop extending to Lynn and Liverpool. With two separate cables, the system provides redundancy and protection in case of damage from the ships and fishing trawlers that prowl the North Atlantic. By connecting the East Coast to Europe, the Hibernia cable opens up opportunities for any company seeking a global telecommunications presence.

Verizon

Another key player in the Cyberdistrict is Verizon, formerly Bell Atlantic. Like most cities, Lynn has a central switching office, or hub, from which the telephone company services its ustomers. The location of the hub varies from city to city, but Lynn is fortunate to have its hub located within the downtown business district. That central location increases the reliability and flexibility of the services provided and allows for quick deployment of bandwidth to meet the demands of new "High Tech" businesses locating in the area.

The demands that can quickly be satisfied include:

• ADSL
• Fiber deployment for "Point to Point"
• T1 and T3 services
• SONET Rings

The Lynn area network is also set up to provide the added security of alternate Serving Wire Centers (ASWC) if a customer desires. This service can protect sensitive data transmissions by providing an alternate digital switch to carry traffic in the unlikely case of a switch failure. Fiber networks exist that can route traffic to the surrounding Digital Switches in Saugus, Salem, and Revere.

The Lynn Digital Switch is connected to all surrounding communities and the world via a robust fiber network. This network utilizes redundant fiber rings to eliminate single points of failure.