NAP of the Americas in New Home

July 5, 2001 -- The NAP of the Americas opened in its permanent home June 29 with two customers online and 27 more customers signed up to operate out of the new network access point.
The Miami project was backed by NAP of the Americas LLC, a coalition of 100 carriers and ISPs including Epik and Global Crossing, and is housed in Terremark Worldwide's 750,000 square foot Technology Center of the Americas, a $109 million facility engineered to withstand a direct hit from a category 5 hurricane packing sustained winds of 156 miles per hour.
The NAP is owned and operated by Terremark, while engineering services were provided by Telcordia Technologies, which also worked on two earlier NAPs.
The center opened on June 29, a day ahead of schedule, with Global Crossing and FIU's Internet2/AMPATH Network online and routing traffic. Prior to that, the NAP had been operating in an interim site at 1 N.E. 1st Street in downtown Miami since Dec. 30, 2000. The construction of the new NAP site took 10 months.
"I am extremely proud to say that we are up and running," said Manuel D. Medina, Chairman and CEO of Terremark Worldwide, Inc. "We have successfully met the critical needs of our customers, our commitments to the Consortium and the growing demands of the Latin American markets by bringing the NAP of the Americas online at Internet speed.
"We have enjoyed tremendous support from the City of Miami and the NAP Consortium whose commitment to this project have helped make it a reality,'' Medina added.
Miami officials hope the Technology Center of the Americas will become an economic development engine for the Park West/Overtown area of Miami. City officials have dedicated "significant time and incentives" to the project, according to Terremark.
"We believe TECOTA will not only have a substantial economic impact on the municipality, it will have great social impact as well - it will truly reinvigorate the area by anchoring the Park West Technology Corridor,'' Jay Cross, president of the Miami Heat, said last year.
The backers of the NAP of the Americas are emphasizing its carrier-neutral status, arguing that BellSouth's dominant role in BellSouthMIX gives too much control to a single operator - in this case an incumbent Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC).