A new charitable organisation which has been set up to "help charities help Bermuda'' expects to see its overall costs go down by using a new state-of-the-art high speed wireless Internet service.

Centre on Philanthropy was set up in April 2000 and began looking at different systems that would help it be as efficient and cost effective as possible.

And, under this remit, it teamed up with North Rock to become a test case for the Bermudian telecommunications provider's Connect wireless service, which was launched yesterday in Hamilton.

Greg Peters, a spokesman for the Centre On Philanthropy, said: "Nonprofits and charities must ensure that the majority of funding goes toward programmes and services and having the right tools is critical to maintaining this delicate balance.'' He told a Press conference yesterday that when the charity was set up in Bermuda it had as its aim to provide a hub for all charitable endeavours on the Island.

And it also had as its aims to provide information, education, resources and advocacy for the local philanthropic sector and to do this the organisers saw they needed to get powerful tools to help them accomplish this.

Mr. Peters said: "I was one of the core group that worked on the plans for the Centre On Philanthropy of the `next millennium' and two major factors caused us to consider North Rock's Connect Service.

"First, the centre was faced with a relocation on short notice and the most practical space was too big for our needs and so our shared facilities concept was born. Second, this concept called for Internet access that would be easy to set up and maintain but also cost-effective. Yes, there were other options with cheaper ongoing fees, but our decision to go with Connect was heavily influenced by their setup time and projected support plan.

"Setup took a little longer but that was due to the renovation schedule but I am delighted to say that there have been very few system hiccups and down time has been minimal.'' New Internet service expected to cut costs And due to the success of the initial trial, Connect has now been launched on the Island.

The company is already providing wireless service to numerous companies located in over 30 buildings all over the Island.

"The feedback from our customers has been exceptionally positive,'' said Tom Coelho, General Manager of North Rock Communications.

"And it is as a result of this feedback that leads us to believe that North Rock is the premier provider of high speed access.'' And he said his company would be well positioned to help Bermuda's growing communications needs.

Connect uses technology from WaveRider Communications Inc, a Canadian company which is considered one of the leaders in wireless data communications.

The system, which uses LMS2000 (the last mile solution) technology, takes about ten days to install in a local company.

Mr. Peters praised what the system had done for his non-profit company. He said: "The Centre, like most 21st Century businesses, has developed a fairly extensive web site and local web presence, and we are building a small technology corner -- a charitable cyber cafe.

"The other charities who are co-tenants in the facility are finding increasing efficiencies through the Internet access. Nonprofits never have enough time and funding charitable operations is the most resource-intensive part of the day-to-day operation.

"The Centre's decision to use North Rock's Connect was definitely a good investment. The return on this investment will be more efficient nonprofits and charities, better programmes and services and better delivery.

"And together, they could result in reduced overall expenses.'' High tech charity: Tom Coelho, general manager of North Rock Communications, a leading telecommunications provider in Bermuda and Greg Peters, spokesperson for the charity Centre on Philanthropy.

BUSINESS BUC