In 1991, this depressed former shipbuilding and mining city in the north of England launched a multi-pronged initiative to create a knowledge-based economy.  The city persuaded a real estate developer to build the first, speculative building of what is now Doxford International, an award-winning 650,000 s/f office park now 100% leased up, that is European headquarters of Nike and home to such companies as Barclays, One 2 One, London Electric and Verisign Europe.  In 1999, Teleport House opened at Doxford as a multi-partner venture undertaken by the city, Sunderland College, the University of Sunderland, The Leighton Group and Northern Informatics.  Today, Sunderland provides a private peering point on the BT backbone network, and interconnects with such regional networks as the E-foundations Business Network and the Northern Metropolitan Area Network.