High tech network buried

WHEN AN ISP MOVED into its new office it found that the previous tenants from the dot.com era had left behind a bit of buried treasure.

Lenny Chesal, chief marketing officer of Boca Raton-based ISP Host.net, said the company bought the building and found a super-fast, private, fibre-optic Internet connection installed, and then forgotten.

The superfast route to the Internet was installed during the dot.com boom by a company with more money than sense, Yipes. Assets of Yipes were sold to various companies, until they ended up in Host.net's hands. But people forgot about what was actually there.

The connection was so advanced for its time it is still pretty hot for now. It is several times faster than a traditional T-1 or other fibre-optic connections and anyone using the system could tap it for voice and data. It meant that there was no need for regular phone or cable service or an outside Internet provider, Chesal said.

It was when the property was converted, the pipes were found and people had to work out what the network was capable of doing. They were really surprised as it added huge amounts of value to the building.

In the end the ISP spent $3million creating a data "bunker" which stores and protects sensitive company data.

It seems that it is always worth looking at what sort of cables are hanging out of your walls. µ

L'inq
Palm Beach Post