The unique arrangement stems from a partnership between Shore.Net and Oasis Development Enterprises, the Lynn firm refitting former retail buildings as commercial office space with high-speed Internet connections. Shore.Net chief executive Lowell Gray demonstrates the difference in download speeds to a crowd gathered at a newly renovated Lynn office building. The project promises 100 Mbps speeds.

Shore.Net chief executive Lowell Gray demonstrates the difference in download speeds to a crowd gathered at a newly renovated Lynn office building. The project promises 100 Mbps speeds.

"I don't know of anybody else who is offering that kind of service," said Shore.Net founder Lowell Gray. "We have office space wired for high-speed plugged directly into the back of an Internet pop. Shore.Net is literally right across the street. Basically, we've got these underground ducts encased in concrete that take the fiber-optic cable from here to there. Right now we can reach 100 megabits (per second)."

The blistering speed, 67 times faster than the typical 1.5 Mbps cable modem, is enhanced by nearly instantaneous Internet connections. The system makes telephone dial-up modems obsolete.

Oasis Development unveiled the pilot project last month during an open house that featured a demonstration by Gray and Shore.Net technical staffers. Two large video screens were set up on the second floor of the Tolman Building on Munroe Street, where the sheetrock is barely dry and the carpeting still virgin.

Identical video files were loaded simultaneously on separate PCs, one connected to a standard 56K modem and the other to the fiber-optic pipeline.

The difference was obvious. While the modem chugged along and delivered the first few video frames after about 30 seconds, the fiber-optic line had transmitted most of the video clip. In addition to its high speed, the fiber-optic system delivered clear video images; the dial-up modem's screen was pixilated.

Jeff Gibbons, Oasis Development's chief financial officer, said nearly 15,000 square feet of office space has already been renovated for high-speed access. The company is now planning to renovate several more Lynn buildings soon.

The office space will lease for $18 per square foot, on par with the newly rehabilitated commercial property in the Clock Tower building on the Lynnway. Commercial space in Boston is leasing for $80 to $100 per square foot.

"Every tenant will have a home run back to Shore.Net, a direct loop," Gibbons said, referring to private lines designated for computer use that connect directly to the Internet service provider. "The tenant won't have to share it so there will be no interrupted access. But best of all, it'll be eight times the speed of a standard T3 telephone connection."

New speed limits

Fiber-optic lines allow Internet connection speeds that push the limits of standard computer equipment. Since the user no longer depends on a modem to funnel information, the speed of data transmission hinges primarily on the computer's microchip processor.

"It's gotten to the point where you are running past your equipment," Gibbons said. "Now the limit is the chip. It comes down to how fast your computer can read data. That's the limitation. With direct fiber-optic connection, you don't even need a router. All the tenant needs is a file server. It's almost plug-and-play. You just call up Shore.Net and turn it on."

Gray said the connection to Shore.Net is part of an experiment aimed at enhancing the "Goldblock Project" - the three-phase effort to modernize nearly an entire block of Munroe Street buildings, encompassing, more than 100,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.

Oasis Development initially proposed building a series of "cyber-suites," living quarters with workstation for those who telecommute and require high-speed Internet service. But the concept was scrapped in favor of traditional office rehab with fiber-optic connections.

"The technology changed so our plans changed with it," Gibbons said. "The cyber-suite concept came and went."

Oasis Development estimates it will invest $2.3 million in the project over all, excluding the cost of buying the buildings from the city - an estimated total of $200,000.

"We're 1,000 percent behind what they are trying to do," City Development Director Stephen Harausz said. "This has been kind of a work in progress. With projects like this, you have to be able to respond to the market conditions as they evolve. As the design changed, we had to change, and we are prepared to go forward with our share."

Harausz said Oasis Development is banking on city participation, particularly in obtaining low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and municipal tax credits that would give a temporary exemption on capital investment.

"The Goldblock project strengthens that area of the downtown and gives us a cluster in the cyber district," he said. "With the presence of Shore.Net and a new fiber-optic conduit connecting us to two big cables in the ocean, we should be very well positioned. We're right where the railroad is going through."

Vancouver-based 360 Networks is laying a transatlantic fiber-optic cable loop that makes landfall in Lynn. The conduit is already installed from the shoreline to the company's switching station on Commercial Street.

Asset Channels, another cable network builder from New Canaan, Conn., has also selected Lynn as the northernmost landfall for its coastal fiber-optic system that extends to Miami.

"More and more companies with huge bandwidth needs are going to be looking for Class-A office space with high-speed connections. We'll be able to give it to them at an affordable rate," Gibbons said.

David Liscio is a writer, photographer and frequent contributor to Mass High Tech. He writes from Nahant and can be contacted at dliscio@aol.com.