Livin' La Vida Boca

What happened in that room was essentially a universal and simultaneous flash of insight in hundreds of brains at all of the largest telecommunications companies. It was a vision of immense profit. The southern tip of the state is already a hub for transoceanic fiber-optic cable -- a globally centralized portal for all Internet traffic in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, North America, and southern Europe. Much of the infrastructure is already in place, and yet, until this meeting, the telecoms simply hadn't recognized that a tier-one NAP in South Florida could link all of that fiber-optic cable -- and most of North America -- to an explosion of e-commerce in the Southern Hemisphere over the next decade.

The projections for Brazil alone are stunning. B2B in Brazil represented a $164 million market in 1999 and is expected to grow to $2.4 billion by 2003. Although Latin America had only 11 million Internet users online by the end of 1999, Jupiter Communications has projected that number to grow sixfold over the next five years to 67 million, a 30% compound annual growth rate -- the fastest in the world. Others project 100 million users by then. With a similar wave of growth predicted for Africa in a few years, it isn't hard to see why a gold rush of telecoms assembled so quickly to begin construction of the NAP -- a $60 million project.

The telecommunications companies knew exactly how they would make money: by providing service to thousands of companies in South Florida, in addition to the lucrative service of back-hauling a geyser of Internet data flow from South America and back down again. At a cost of about $500,000, EPIK Communications drew up an inch-thick feasibility study -- free of charge -- and handed it over to the Internet Coast NAP subcommittee.

The study acted as the perfect catalyst for action. The telecommunications companies began signing up by the dozens to lease either space or services from the facility, and they formed a limited liability corporation last September. The organization works almost like a trade union, giving more than 70 telecoms a way to work together for equal access to the NAP. Cooperation has been the hallmark of the entire project.

"When we needed to select one site that all three counties could agree on, the Internet Coast committee called together county and city officials, state senators, and commissioners," Kline says. "We gathered them into one room and let them talk it out. After only two hours, they agreed: The NAP needed to be built in Miami. They had never agreed on anything. Ever. Things just happen that are unexplainable. It's a God thing."

It was also a money thing. The state pledged a moratorium on sales tax for any and all supplies and materials purchased for the NAP construction. The City Commission of Miami promised to expedite the processing of permits. In fact, all permitting for the NAP was done in two weeks. Paul-Hus charged his Internet Coast committee to come up with a name for the facility, and the one that they chose -- NAP of the Americas -- has become the official name, with a logo already designed for the building's facade. "Everything about this project is just falling out of the air into our laps," Kline says. "It's all just showing up like room service."

The project is now nearly finished, with service set to begin by early summer. In the process, last year, BellSouth Corp. broke away from the group and began construction of a competitive virtual NAP called the Florida Multimedia Internet EXchange (MIX), with four major fiber-optic nodes throughout the Internet Coast. Kline and the others don't regard this development as a threat; they see only benefits to the entire region. Competition would ensure the best possible service, the best possible fuel for growth.

"All the stars have lined up on this one," Kline says.

And it's a generosity thing. Kline donated the Internet Coast domain name, the logo, the trademark, and all of the branding work. It's as if each person on the team could see what was coming and understood that the only way to maintain momentum was to give up on making money too soon -- or risk hindering what would happen five years down the road.