EDGEWOOD - North American Internet Service has signed a letter of intent with developer Gerald Wolkoff to provide wireless Internet and telephony services to the Heartland Business Center. NAI may also provide a similar service for the Hauppauge Industrial Park.

The contract, contingent upon a testing phase at Heartland, is the largest contract to date for wireless connectivity on Long Island - potentially encompassing 17 million square feet of office space - and underscores the growing demand for the service. The Hauppauge site is the largest industrial park in the country, according to brokers.

While initially providing high speed Internet service, the company plans eventually to add telephony services, colocation services and server hosting.

"This is the first time a complete network has been set up to wire a complete park," said David Butler, North American's president. He said it is the largest wireless deal the company has put together.

To get the service up and running, North American has installed a transmitting system that will broadcast a wireless signal throughout the park, allowing for Internet connections for any company in the park.

In lieu of signal towers, the company mounted antennas on pylons at Wolkoff's golf driving range in the Heartland Center.

"They are doing a test on it now," said Wolkoff. "Hopefully, it will be what they say it is."

In wirelessly connecting his park, Wolkoff said he intends to compete for high-tech companies with the Long Island Technology Center in Great River and iPark facility in Lake Success.

"We are going head-to-head with those parks," Butler said. "We are going to take this park from an "old-style manufacturing and heavy industrial park to a new hightech park very quickly."

One industry observer said the deal to wire the industrial park creates a good market niche for North American, coming in under the radar screen of some of the larger players that focus on New York City and other more densely populated markets.

North American, a five-year-old. company started by Charles Butler and his two sons, Michael and David, has grown to employ 23 and is hunting for about $5 million in venture capital on the road to an IPO in the next year.

The company moved into a 39,000-square-foot facility in the Heartland Business Park April 1 that was formerly occupied by Thermo Vu Sunlight Industries. In 1999, North American had revenues of $963,000.

The company's previous clients include Trump City apartment complexes in Brooklyn and Trump International offices at 1 Central. Park West, 60 Park Ave., 180 Riverside, 200 Riverside and 71 Broadway in Manhattan.

The deal to "light up" both parks is worth more than $1 million, Butler said.

"We figured we would get five or six takers in the park" in total, Butler said. But demand has outstripped expectations. At Heartland, four companies have committed to service and five others have expressed interest, he added.

"And if all goes well here, we plan do to (Wolkoff's) other parks as well, including one in Rockland County, Butler said.