Tech in paradise: Hawaii is home to world-class startups. (Technology).

Beyond beautiful white-sand beaches and heavenly waters, some of the most innovative high-tech startups in the world are tucked away in business parks on all of Hawaii's major islands.

They are part of a statewide effort to develop a technology industry in Hawaii that's gained momentum through high-tech tax incentives that are attracting entrepreneurs, investors and businesses.

1. Manoa Innovation Center

Oahu is home to the Manoa Innovation Center, a 46,000-square-foot high-tech business incubator that occupies three acres in Manoa Valley near the University of Hawaii's main campus. The center, which opened in 1993, is overseen by the state's High Tech Development Corp. and provides business-plan assistance, administrative staff, voice mail and messaging and other office services. Tenants enjoy low rent, free Internet access, a T-1 line to accommodate data transfer and email services, and access to conference rooms.

Currently, the center is operating at full capacity and is home to more than 20 tech startups.

2. Mililani Technology Park

The 90-acre Mililani Technology Park, located in central Oahu, is a development of Castle & Cooke Properties Inc. The park, which opened in 1989, has mixed-use (IMX-1) zoning, allowing a variety of office and light-industrial uses, though the park was designed to accommodate high-tech businesses. It currently has 19 companies.

This park is unusual in that it is divided into various-size parcels that companies actually purchase.

"You buy the lot and you build your building," said Castle & Cooke leasing agent Robin Boolukos, "whereas, in most other business parks you are just a tenant."

The park eventually could reach 180 acres, if buyer demand calls for it, Boolukos said.

Mililani Technology Park is designated a Foreign-Trade Zone by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It also has Enterprise Zone status, which allows businesses to receive certain state and city tax exemptions. The park is also equipped with broadband fiber-optic cable and is linked to the University of Hawaii's ethernet computer network and Maui High Performance Computing Center.

3. Maui Research & Technology Center

The 40,000-square-foot Maui Research & Technology Center is a high-tech business incubator in Kihei, Maui, occupying five acres in the 300-acre Maui Research and Technology Park.

Here, a variety of cutting-edge companies are clustered together in a unique and friendly environment beneath the spectacular backdrop of the 10,025-foot Haleakala, the third highest peak in Hawaii.

MRTC is managed by the Maui Economic Development Board for the High Tech Development Corp. The center provides tech startups with low-rent office space and a variety of services, which include assisting phase-in companies--established high-tech businesses--with their move to Maui.

The center's goal is to produce successful graduates through support and assistance during the high-risk early stages of development.

4. West Kauai Visitor and Technology Center

Kauai's tech companies are involved primarily in projects surrounding the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The 7,500-square-foot Kauai Visitor and Technology Center, which opened in 1999, is home to companies that specialize in this niche. The center is currently at full capacity and a separate 13,000-square-foot building is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The center offers to tenants and the community a central video-teleconferencing room, which features three 40-inch, high-definition monitors, an 84-inch projection screen and LCD presentation equipment in a boardroom conference format that seats 25.

Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii

Set amidst the backdrop of the Big Islands spectacular Kona coast, the state-run 870-acre Natural Energy Laboratory is the only facility of its kind in the world: a marine science incubator that leases land, office and laboratory space to companies involved in a variety of ocean-related research and technology projects.

The facility includes the 322-acre NELHA the state acquired in 1974 and the 548-acre Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology Park acquired in 1990.

The facility is unique in that it pumps deep, cold ocean water from a depth of 2,000 feet off the Kona coast into the park to produce energy, provide air conditioning, desalinate water and grow fish, lobsters and shellfish as well as cold-climate fruits and vegetables.

The NELHA section is nearly full with 100 percent of its space committed by lease or option to lease. It has 35 tenants.

RELATED ARTICLE: Hawaii is wired

Let's drain all the water out of the Pacific for a moment.

Good. Now--just look at all those cables! Hawaii has light-speed fiber-optic superhighways fanning out in all directions to make it one of the best-wired places in the world.

"By the end of this year, fiber-optic capacity connecting Hawaii with surrounding land masses will be about 770 Gbps," says analyst Alan Mauldin of TeleGeorgaphy Inc.

Southern Cross Cable Network connects Australia and New Zealand with Oregon and California in an immense ring that twists on itself between Oahu and the Big Island, and in recent weeks it installed a third landfall on the mainland.

Companies such as AT&T, Genesys and Cendant use all that connectivity to operate call centers in Hawaii. The time difference helps them fill in their 24/7 coverage.