As the popularity of wireless networks continues to rise, a Miami company is finding itself right in the middle of this growing market.

Nexland makes routers for wireless high-speed Internet access, which offer a path through virtual private networks that many businesses use. These private networks permit secure remote access in large offices or for telecommuters. Nexland routers allow several workers to share one Internet connection at the same time.

Originally founded in Paris by Daniel Sulton in 1994, Nexland established an outpost in Miami to service an initial U.S. client in 1997. The client fizzled out, recalls Gregory Levine, but the company decided to stay in South Florida.

Levine, who is Nexland's president, joined in 1998 to develop new business. He zeroed in on Fortune 1000 companies. In 1998, he bagged a big client, Fidelity Investments. Nexland tailored its solution to provide Fidelity with multiple simultaneous Internet connections all using IPSec, an Internet security protocol with 256-bit encryption at the network level.

Nexland sales have jumped from $300,000 in 1998 to $4 million last year. Levine hopes sales can double this year.

Several recent deals should help the company meet that goal.

Since last fall, Nexland has been manufacturing routers to be sold under the Symantec label. This month, the company completed a deal with Alienware, which will offer its wireless devices to buyers of its computer video gaming systems.

Nexland went public in 2000 through a reverse merger, raising just $100,000. The market collapsed before it had a chance to tap it for more. It raised $5 million through a line of credit last October.

The company has 30 employees in Miami, with design, development, sales and marketing based here. Manufacturing is done in Melbourne. Sulton today is chief technology officer.

MIFFED RIVALS

Companies looking to offer competing local phone service in Florida were miffed by a Public Service Commission staff recommendation issued last week.

The PSC staff, after gathering testimony from BellSouth as well as rival firms such as AT&T and MCI Worldcom, recommended that no change is needed in BellSouth's loop rates. That's the wholesale price that BellSouth charges a competing firm to lease that portion of its network running from the central office to a home or business.

Competitors had been hoping the PSC staff would tell the utility commissioners, who meet Thursday to decide this issue, that a hefty reduction in loop rates was necessary.

These companies have been telling state regulators -- and anyone else who will listen -- that BellSouth's wholesale access fees, which include loop rates, are too high. So it's less feasible for BellSouth rivals to offer local phone service, especially to residential customers in the state, and still make a profit.

''It's time for the commissioners to the step up to the plate and decide whether they are for competition or not,'' says Brian Sulminetti, director of public policy for MCI Worldcom.

Claudia Davant, AT&T's state president for legislation and regulatory affairs, says there had been a silver lining in Gov. Jeb Bush's veto of a bill that would have reduced the fees long-distance companies pay to have calls routed through the BellSouth network.

In his veto, Bush urged regulators to review wholesale pricing as the critical factor for encouraging competition in local phone service in Florida.

MCI is charging a higher rate of $59.99 for its new all-inclusive local and long-distance call plan, called the Neighborhood, because the access fees are higher in much of Florida.

AMEX LISTING

CyberGuard, a Fort Lauderdale company that provides computer network security solutions, is moving up in the stock market world -- at least as trading places are concerned.

Last week, CyberGuard's application to have its stock trade on the American Stock Exchange was approved.

However, the move to the Amex is contingent upon CyberGuard's ability to meet all the listing standards on the day it begins trading. The company expects to migrate in the next few weeks.

Since mid-March, the company's shares have been trading on the OTC Bulletin Board. And that was a move up from the ''pink sheets,'' where lower-valued, less-frequently traded stocks find a trading home.

In 1999, the company's shares were delisted from the Nasdaq marketplace when the company became the target of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission after revelations that it had improperly recognized $2.5 million in sales.

GRANT FOR MDCC

Miami-Dade Community College received a $7.6 million grant from Electronic Data Systems for a Unigraphics system, a package of software and hardware for computer-integrated manufacturing that is used in more than 18,000 companies around the world.

Using the different applications in this system, MDCC's School of Computer Information Systems and Design Technology will be able to offer a complete curriculum that includes design, engineering and production.

The system will be installed at MDCC's Emerging Technologies Center of the Americas.

NEX-LINK ACQUIRED

Nex-Link Communications Project Services, a Fort Lauderdale broadband network design and installation company, agreed to be acquired for $4.59 million by a subsidiary of AM Communications, a software company in Quakertown, Pa.

AM Communications is paying $1 million in cash and $1 million in a promissory note payable over three years with a 5-percent interest rate.

The company will also issue 7 million restricted shares of AM Communications common stock with an approximate market value of $2.59 a share. At that price, the 7 million shares are worth about $18.13 million.

AM Communications wouldn't say whether it will move Nex-Link operations to Quakertown.