Since last June, Mrs. Santiago, who is a supervisor at a data-processing company on Wall Street, has been boarding the ferry for the 30-minute trip to Manhattan.

"The alumni wanted to help Berry in work projects as well as show our appreciation to the school," said Mr. Smith, who has retired as the president of a data-processing company.

Mr. duPont, who has spent his adult life on the island, owns two businesses here, a small data-processing company and a greenhouse.

Her parents own Manamation Inc., a data-processing company in Freeport, L.I.

For large institutions like universities and data-processing companies, with huge quantities of information to send back and forth daily, the notion of an Information Superhighway isn't a terrible metaphor.

ACS is now a $200-million-a-year company and has bought other data-processing companies.

Perot Systems, a data-processing company in Dallas owned by billionaire Ross Perot, is AT&T's first customer for the new technology.

It already owns 1,054,900 shares, or 13.5 percent, of Triad, a data-processing company.

Her father is the president of IDP Services Ltd., a data-processing company in Scarsdale.

Triplex, a large data-processing company, said it had taken the list from the United Farm Workers' broker and had put the labels on mail for the other charities that had bought it.