BELTWAY BIZ

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Lofty Goals: In the next five years, the Potomac KnowledgeWay wants to cultivate 2,000 new Internet-related businesses, create 50,000 new jobs and increase the region's consumer spending by $3.5 billion annually starting in 2002.

The economic development organization attracted a group of 180 business leaders April 3 to announce its five-year goals. It also wants to establish the region as the top U.S. location for Internet companies and entrepreneurs.

The Reston, Va.-based group needs to raise $10 million to accomplish its five-year mission. Organizers have already collected $4 million from 29 investors, including The Washington Post Co.

Going to Market: The latest local, high-tech company considering an IPO is Advanced Communication Systems Inc. of Fairfax, Va. The company filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27 to offer 2.5 million shares of common stock. The provider of communications and IT services, which is using A.G. Edwards & Sons as an underwriter, has not announced a price for its offering.

IPO in the Works?: Landmark Systems Corp. of Vienna, Va., may be announcing an initial public offering any day now. The software developer received a multimillion-dollar chunk of change from Blue Water Capital LLC, a $100 million venture capital fund in McLean, Va., and Birmingham, Mich. The firm would not reveal the value of the investment.

Hughes Happenings: Charles Leader, executive vice president of Hughes Information Systems in Reston, Va., will become president of the subsidiary when Wayne Shelton retires in late May. Leader has been with Hughes since April 1994. Shelton has been with the $2.5 billion subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft Co. for the last six years.

Netpreneur's Net: Charles Stein, chairman of Netrix Corp., Herndon, Va., plans to mentor budding entrepreneurs with the Potomac KnowledgeWay's Netpreneur Program upon his retirement from Netrix. Stein, who has been with Netrix for 10 years, moved in February from CEO to president and chairman of the board. As CEO, Stein raised $24 million for Netrix and took the company public in the fourth quarter of 1991. Stein hasn't announced his departure date, and the company has not named a successor.

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