Bandwidth capacity is being bought from the Government's transatlantic fibre-optic cable joint venture with Global Crossing and the centre is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2001. It will enable AboveNet to offer its European customers access to Metromedia's global network and will give its US clients a method of entering the European market. It is understood that Microsoft, one of its major customers in the US, has agreed to use the AboveNet service centre in Dublin to service its European headquarters there which serve the European, Middle East and African regions.

According to Charles Briggs, AboveNet's vice president of business development, Ireland was chosen as a base for a number of e-commerce-friendly reasons. Mr Briggs said the the Republicc had a very significant chance of becoming the centre for European e-commerce because of the access to fibre, the passage of the E-commerce Act and the nongeographic nature of e-commerce: 'Apart from the recently signed e-commerce bill there is also the IT literate workforce and the tax implications.'

IDA Ireland is not grant-aiding the Internet services centre but it is understood AboveNet is in negotiations with the agency regarding a secondary investment for a pan-European services centre. Such an operation would offer customer support and other managed services. It would probably employ many more staff than the Internet services centre and would therefore qualify for grant aid. Co-locators or data storage facilities house thousands of servers owned by client companies. Co-location is big business and the market is estimated to be worth U$8.5bn by 2005. AboveNet is the second big co-locator to set up shop in Ireland in the past few months. CityReach will open its facility in Ballybough in early October.