Dec. 30--A self-proclaimed teenage computer nerd hopes a new company he's launched will become an online powerhouse -- and he's got the backing of Microsoft to help him do it.

Mike Pronovost, 19 and a student at Fresno City College, is the chief executive of Powerband Internet, a company that promises its customers ultra-fast Internet speeds even with antiquated dial-up phone connections.

Pronovost said the idea sprouted while he was a student at San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno. He believed one source of Internet slowdowns to be the speed of the connection -- dial-up phone lines, DSL or cable broadband -- between the computer and the Internet.

The head of another local Internet startup said he thinks Pronovost's enterprise could catch on, if it delivers on its promised speed and he's able to build a recognizable brand.

"I don't know anyone who doesn't want faster Internet speed," said Brendan Kane, president of Clovis-based Watchdoit.com, a Web site that features how-to videos produced and submitted by users. "What [Pronovost] does and how he works with customers will be the main selling point."

Pronovost said his idea caught the attention of industry giant Microsoft Corp., which is partnering with the fledgling company by providing financial, software and server-storage support and logistical support, including a huge data center of computer servers for storing data and information.

Pronovost provided e-mail correspondence between Microsoft and Powerband that confirms the connection, but a spokeswoman for Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., said the company was unable to comment on the partnership.

Microsoft is already a major player in the field of "cloud computing" -- the nebulous term applied to computers using content and applications accessed through the Internet rather than stored on a hard drive -- and remote-access content and software, crucial to Pronovost's plans.

Pronovost said he originally reached out to Microsoft for a partnership for software, "but when we told them what we're looking into, they wanted to help out with server-related stuff."

What Powerband does

To understand Pronovost's enterprise, try thinking about an Internet connection as a pipeline. Because a dial-up phone connection is like a small tube, only a small amount of data can flow at any given time. DSL and cable broadband offer bigger pipes, accommodating more data and faster flow.

But even bigger pipes can get clogged and data can slow down when it comes to downloading large files, such as games or movies.