Local Telco to Unveil One Line Fits All Service

CHICAGO - Whether you run a small business out of your high rise home or you just like lots of phone lines, who wants to pay for two separate ones when you can essentially have unlimited lines and extensions? You can even have up to the equivalent of dual T-1s–a service a consumer surely wouldn't pay for at home.

The 21-person workforce of Chicago-based onShore, which was founded a decade ago and has been profitable every year since, is marrying with Traverse City, Michigan-based Appia to make such an offering a reality for multi-dwelling units (MDUs) in Chicago.

Says onShore President Stelios Valavanis, the voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) offering—whereby your voice and data services flow directly from your wall without the need of equipment—should be available in February 2002. The company plans to sign a service contract with Domain Lofts, located at 600 W. Chicago, which is the residential half of the commercial tech space known as e-Port.

"The revelation to people in residential buildings is that they can get their own T-1, and from that, true convergence over IP packets," Valavanis said. "Your phone will be like your computer. You don't have to pay to open another browser of Netscape. You can have as many phone lines as you want and you just pay for the usage."

The company plans to install a Linux server and several dedicated T-1 connections in each residential or commercial MDU so every customer will have up to 3 megabits of dedicated bandwidth. Typically, onShore will update telco closets on every six to 10 floors with its equipment. For customers, voice takes precedence over data transfers, and Valavanis says users should experience data transfer speeds no less than 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) or one T-1 connection, which is about double what you're likely getting in Chicago with cable or DSL service.

In terms of the voice offering, onShore resells local per-minute service from Chicago-based Focal Communications and long-distance service from Qwest at a rate Valavanis claims will be 30 percent to 40 percent cheaper than Ameritech. He says his company only needs Ameritech's service for a transport connection. Typically, Valavanis says, customers will see that calls within eight miles are more costly but rates beyond that band will be far lower.

A data connection on a dynamic IP address will cost the standard $50 per month and will come with two free e-mail addresses and web storage space. You'll pay about $5 more per month for a static (non-changing) IP address, and a $100 installation fee can be waived with a one-year service agreement, or occasionally when the company signs a new contract with a building.

Valavanis says his company isn't opposed to giving customers a free month of service for a customer to conquer the FUD factor–fear, uncertainty and doubt.

The company is headquartered at 53 W. Jackson, which of interesting note was the first building in Chicago to receive electricity and telephone service, as well as become a multi-tenant data network (MDN). Valavanis says about 18 months ago, a deal was all but audited for Santa Barbara, Calif.-based NetLojix to acquire onShore, which today is private but one day he hopes will be bought. He said he backed out of the deal just as soon as the stock markets imploded.

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onShore
onShore, Chicago´s premier systems integrator, provides technology business planning and project execution at the Enterprise and Workgroup levels. onShore is fluent in UNIX (Solaris, Linux), NT and Mac OS for integration and custom development, and has expertise in LAN, WAN and Internet technologies. Founded in 1991, onShore´s headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois.

For further information
Nick Valavanis, onShore Networks
312.850.5200 x126
nick@onShore.com

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