Four years after starting in a Cambridge, Mass., basement, Actuality Systems has raised nearly $1 million in financing to develop what could be the new must-have product for electronic designers and bio-tech types.

The firm's offering is Helios, a 3-D spherical display monitor. Shaped like a 20-inch-diameter globe, the product shows color images that appear to hover in space, allowing users to move around the display and view images from any angle.

The prototype has a resolution of more than 100 million volume pixels or "voxels," like flat square pixels but with depth. The device resembles an oversized crystal ball (see the product picture on the company's Web site).

"This is an important step in commercializing our technology because it allows us to go after our target markets, especially new drug development and mechanical design," said Gregg Favalora, Actuality's founder and CTO.

Actuality, now in office space in Reading, Mass., expects to ship test units later this year. The first commercial units should be complete by the end of 2002.

"At first glance, the image seems to float in the display like a special effect, but then you realize that you can control virtually every pixel with your mouse," said Brad Florin of Eclipse Investment Partners, an investor. "That's the breakthrough technology that makes this product so promising."

To date, Actuality has raised about $2.5 million -- not a lot considering that the company got its start near the beginning of the dot-com boom. The reason was two-fold: Favalora wanted to run a lean outfit (the workforce totals eight) and it was hard getting the attention of venture capitalists.

"It was challenging raising money, there was a lot going to dot-coms and not much to hardware companies," Favalora said. "Plus we had executive risk."

Since then the company has filed for 10 patents and received more than 200 inquiries from prospective customers. Additionally, many companies have inquired about buying a stake in Actuality, something that Favarola will consider when the company goes out for $5 million to $10 million later this year.

If interest remains as hot as it currently is, there's little chance Favarola and company will see the basement again.