From the April 21, 2000 print edition

Heavy load

J. Craig Anderson The Business Journal

Corbin Glowacki's home-based Internet business was booming, so in March he packed up his equipment and moved to an office in the Scottsdale Airpark.

But upon arrival, Glowacki discovered something he hadn't expected in an area known as one of the Valley's technology centers: He couldn't get high-speed Internet access.

To make matters worse, the leading local broadband Internet providers all told Glowacki, president of MyPlane.com Inc., he would have to wait months to get it.

He is not alone.

Stories of high-tech businesses stranded in various hot spots of the Valley without adequate communications are common and have sparked debate over who is to blame and how to solve the problem.

Experts say Airpark businesses are suffering the worst.

Barry Harvey, a leasing agent for Colliers Classic in Scottsdale, placed Glowacki in MyPlane.com's present digs. He said some tenants wait up to six months for service, which can be deadly for Internet companies.

Harvey said the Airpark's rapid expansion, inadequate infrastructure and a lack of cooperation among telecommunications carriers are partially to blame.

"The Airpark is an island," he said. "Some of the infrastructure isn't built out -- I don't know why."

Jim Keeley, also with Colliers, said about 100 new businesses moved into the Airpark in 1999. More importantly, those companies brought in 4,500 new employees, many of whom need their own phone lines or Internet connections.

US West spokesman Jim Roof said the Airpark's expansion has made it increasingly difficult for his company to keep up with demand for phone and Internet service.

"The nature of companies coming in has significantly strained the conduit and the fiber in that area," he said.

Roof said one problem is that high-tech tenants' communications demands are astronomically higher than those of old economy businesses.

"Internet companies move into a building that has 50 phone lines and want 200," he said. "And guess what? Usually you don't have an extra 150 lines laying around."

Glowacki said he did check ahead of time to make sure his needs could be accommodated. A US West representative told him he could order a T1 line -- a 1.5 megabit-per-second connection -- but that he would have to wait three to four months.

He was planning to use Sprint's Broadband Direct wireless service (formerly SpeedChoice) and was told he could have it installed March 1, when he moved in.

But when March rolled around, Sprint technicians said he would have to wait at least until late April. He doesn't have it yet and is checking into other options.

Sprint Broadband Direct spokesman Robert Hoskins said the company temporarily has suspended all new commercial installations while it works out compatibility problems with new equipment acquired during the Sprint/SpeedChoice merger.

"We hate to be putting customers off," he said, "but we don't want to hook them up and have them experience problems with the service."

Glowacki said Cox Communications Inc., whose Business Services division was launched late last year, also told him he was out of range for high-speed Internet.

Cox spokesman Alex Horwitz said Glowacki was misinformed, and that Cox does offer its services in the Airpark.

But Glowacki called a second time and again was told he was out of range and out of luck.

Harvey and Grubb & Ellis Co. senior Associate Jonathan Keyser agreed that of the Valley's three major high-tech centers -- the Airpark, Phoenix's Camelback Road and Central Avenue corridors and downtown Tempe's "Tech Oasis" -- the Airpark's connectivity is the most strained.

Still, they pointed out that the Airpark excels in other areas, such as price, parking and nearby amenities.

"If it was as simple as bandwidth, we'd be taking all these companies to downtown Phoenix," Harvey said.

He said although Phoenix is the leader in availability of high-speed access, it has other problems such as heavy traffic and a shortage of free parking.

Keyser said Tempe is the leader when it comes to amenities such as parks and restaurants, but it, too, suffers from a parking squeeze.

Both Keyser and Harvey said another emerging Valley tech center to watch is the Interstate 17 corridor in the Deer Valley area northwest of central Phoenix.

Keyser said several of his technology clients have expressed an interest in the area, which has a combination of bandwidth and fast traffic routes.

In the meantime, he advised his real estate colleagues to make sure they place high-tech tenants in locations that meet their needs for Internet and telephone service.

"Speed to market is key for these companies," Keyser said. "If they have to wait three months, they may miss their market segment."

© 2000 American City Business Journals Inc.