BELTWAY BIZ

More Money for Net2000:
Net2000 Group, a Vienna, Va., wholesaler of telecommunications services and industry consultancy, should clear its second round of venture capital financing in the next month, according to company executives.

Charlie Thomas, president and one of the founders of Net2000, said the three investors from last year's first round of financing - Societe Generale of France, Blue Water Capital of McLean, Va., and Mid Atlantic Venture Funds of Vienna, Va. - will add to their initial investment of $3.5 million. He declined to say what the second round might net.

Landmark Moves, MicroStrategy Expands:
Landmark Systems Corp., a public software company in Vienna, Va., will move its headquarters next year to neighboring Reston, it announced last month.

Ralph Alexander, Landmark's president, said that the company will move into a new 104,000-square-foot building in the spring of 1999. He also said that Landmark's current 80,000-square-foot digs, one floor below the local schmooze cafe Tower Club, will be subleased to MicroStrategy for the next few years. Vienna, Va.-based Micro-Strategy, which is already in the Tycon Tower office building, expects to double its staff to 1,200 this year.

Heard Through the Grapevine:
With April Young leaving the Potomac KnowledgeWay after two years as executive director and Ray Pelletier leaving the executive director spot at the Northern Virginia Technology Council after a five-year stint, rumors are flying about their latest plans.

Word on the street is that Pelletier is going to be chief executive of a start-up technology venture currently run by his wife. Pelletier would only tell Washington Technology that he has accepted a position, but declined to name the company.

Young, on the other hand, has not given any indication of her next stop. Several tech leaders speculated that Young, the former head of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, could either end up in the top spot at NVTC or at the Greater Washington Initiative. GWI is a community-building and promotional organization that is not technology industry specific.

Young said that being the leader of either organization "would be an honor" and that her main love is still economic development. However, she added, "It might be a good time to take the opportunity to make a lot of money" with a technology firm.

- Bob Starzynski

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