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SPA RELEASES GLOBAL REPORT CARD

The Software Publishers Association, Washington, D.C., has released the third-quarter report of personal computer application software sales for three different regions of the world. It found that personal computer application software sales in Western Europe were $455.4 million for the third quarter of 1996, down 7 percent from the third quarter of 1995. Germany and the United Kingdom continue to lead sales in Europe, jointly accounting for more than 50 percent of total European revenue.

Latin American PC application software companies topped $47 million in the third quarter of 1996. This is a 15 percent increase over the same period in 1995. Brazil and Mexico still dominate the Latin American marketplace.

Software sales in the Asia-Pacific region show a healthy third quarter as well. Sales reached $319 million, a 15 percent increase from the third quarter of 1995. According to SPA, this is the first time the Asia-Pacific region has cleared $1 billion in just three quarters.

Software sales in North America were flat in the first three quarters of 1996. Sales in the United States and Canada reached $2.4 billion in the third quarter, a 19 percent drop over the same period in 1995.

Boeing Creates NEW FEDERAL Unit

Boeing Information Services has created a new business unit to focus its federal infotech services. The new unit, called Professional Services, will target IDIQ contracts the company has won including the NIH Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners, Defense Financial Integrated Systems Services and Defense Enterprise Information Services.

Boeing expects the Professional Services unit to capture about $250 million in revenue in its first year, which will represent more than a third of Boeing Information Services' revenues. Harold Olson, Boeing Information Services vice president for business development, will head the Professional Services unit. Denny Groh will take over Olson's former position. Boeing announced the restructuring Jan. 6.

FCC TO HOLD BANDWIDTH DISCUSSION

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an open forum Jan. 23 on access to bandwidth. The meeting will be the first of two technology discussions open to the public.

The all-day event, which will be held at the FCC, will include an overview and demonstration of high-speed data technologies. Experts in the areas of telecommunications, the Internet and technology policy will then discuss issues such as tariffs, public access to new services, connectivity for schools, libraries and health-care providers and Internet use and congestion.

Additional information can be found at the FCC World Wide Web site, http://www. fcc.gov.

WASHINGTON VENTURE CAPITAL FLOWS TO THE MIDWEST

Blue Water Capital LLC, a venture capital firm in McLean, Va., has announced its first deal for the year. The firm, which opened an office in Northern Virginia in March 1996, made an equity investment of $1.5 million in Powerway Inc., a software applications company in Indianapolis that specializes in educational programs. Blue Water managers are raising a $100 million private equity fund called the Blue Water Strategic Fund I.

GSI WINS BID TO PROVIDE GLOBALSTAR DATA SERVICES

Globalstar added another piece to the command and control infrastructure for its satellite system by awarding Government Systems Inc., Chantilly, Va., the job of providing managed data services for the system.

GSI will provide the services for the Globalstar Data Network, which San Jose, Calif.-based Globalstar said will link a worldwide system of gateways with ground and satellite operations control centers in San Jose and El Dorado Hills, Calif.

The data network will support activities related to satellite launch, in-orbit testing, and on-going command and control of the $2.5 billion Globalstar satellite system. It will also be used to coordinate and administer Globalstar's various worldwide ground operations activities.

Plans call for a constellation of 48 satellites in low earth orbit and a global network of ground stations. It will allow people in areas that are currently underserved by existing wireline and cellular telecommunications systems to make or receive calls from virtually anywhere on earth.

TRUSTBUSTER LANDS AT LOCAL TELCO

Anne Bingaman, the former assistant attorney general for the antitrust division of the Justice Department, has been hired at LCI International, McLean, Va., as the company's corporate senior vice president and president of the local telecommunications division.

In her new role, Bingaman will lead the sixth-largest long distance company in the United States into the local telephone market. In addition to her infamous role investigating Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash., for potential antitrust violations, Bingaman had much influence in crafting the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton last February. That law opens the market for companies such as LCI to compete for local service business.

Bingaman, 53, left the agency in October 1996 and has since been a guest scholar in telecommunications at The Brookings Institution in Washington.

ORBITAL RAISES FUNDS IN PRIVATE STOCK OFFERING

Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va., completed a private issue of 1.2 million shares of its common stock last month. The offering generated net proceeds of $20.6 million for the space and information systems company. Orbital plans to use the proceeds to increase investment in Orbimage, its satellite imagery business.