From One Alexandria To Another
     Perhaps no one is more thrilled with Mubarak's visit than Virginia Technology Secretary Donald Upson.
     When his office first got the call that Mubarak wanted to visit a Virginia tech company, they thought someone was playing a practical joke. But they soon realized that the Egyptian Embassy was serious about bringing Mubarak, whose government wants to be known as a high-tech powerhouse in the Middle East, on a high-tech tour through the area.
     The way Upson sees it, Mubarak's decision to come to Virginia was a natural one. Besides its close proximity to Washington, DC, Upson said the state offers a model for governments looking to grow their tech sectors.
     "What happened here exploded over night," Upson explained. "The message Virginia has is that if government and business work together, you can do this almost anywhere. What Egypt is trying to do is in many ways similar to Virginia. It's an entrepreneurial hotbed."
     During a luncheon address Monday to hundreds of high-tech executives, Mubarak pointed to Virginia's rapid success in cultivating e-business.
     "The State of Virginia offers itself as a shining example for the historic transformation in a relatively short period," he said.
     During his visit, Mubarak encouraged information technology investment and partnerships between Egypt and the United States' government and private sectors. To spur investments, Mubarak stumped for Egypt's educated workforce, position as a gateway to the Middle East and corporate tax breaks. After Mubarak's speech, Upson, Egyptian Minister of Information Technology Ahmed Nazif and other executives met to discuss ways Egypt and Virginia can maintain a technology connection. Upson said Gov. Jim Gilmore, R-VA, who has made technology a staple of his administration, agreed to lead an IT trade delegation to Egypt in the future.

Old Worlds And The New Dominion
     Mubarak's visit also paid off for Virginia's booming high-tech corridor.
     "It certainly doesn't hurt to have face-to-face meetings with his cabinet," said Douglas Baj, a spokesman for PSINet, which announced plans Monday to expand operations in Egypt.
     PSINet is looking to build a global Web hosting facility in Cairo and might create or purchase an Internet service provider in Egypt. In addition, Network Solutions Inc., a Virginia-based Internet registrar, registered domain names for all of Egypt's worldwide embassies during the visit. Baj predicted that more heads of state would look to Virginia as a model for e-business and said the benefits of visits such as Mubarak's are multifold.
     "They learn something about the Internet; we learn something about their political landscape," he said.
     Gerard de Graaf, first secretary of trade for the EU's Washington delegation, said there is good reason government bigwigs are increasingly attracted to Washington, DC-area technology hubs.
     "Northern Virginia has the advantage of being near D.C," he said. "You can meet the secretary of commerce and see what the thriving economy is about all in one trip."
     He added that several Dutch officials have met with the region's high-tech companies, and European Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society, Erkki Liikanen, met with area business groups to talk about Europe's technology policy earlier this month.

Making An International Connection
     The buzz created around the metropolitan area's high-tech businesses also has sparked interest from international groups. Shruthi Reddy, executive director of the Indian CEO High Tech Council, a powerful network of Indian high-tech CEO's in the region, said the council frequently gets calls from Indian businesses around the world wondering how the area's industry has become an overnight superstar of the new economy.
     Jim LeBlanc, international chairman of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, said he's already seen a dramatic increase in the number of government officials and trade delegations coming to Washington-area high-tech companies. The Premier of Nova Scotia, Canada and about a dozen CEOs from Canadian companies had a breakfast with the tech community earlier in March, and Dominican Republic president Leonel Fernández will speak to a number of area high-tech companies in two weeks. In June, Canadian tech companies will come to Washington to host GlobeTech, a three-day networking meeting that aims to provide a forum for high-tech upstarts and venture capitalists to strike deals.
     "This is the center of the universe," LeBlanc enthused. "This is a happening region."
     Groups such as the Northern Virginia Technology Council and the Greater Washington Initiative work to connect international and local businesses. LeBlanc said while officials from Europe and the Middle East have frequently made stops to Washington-area high-tech companies, trade delegations from Asia are starting to realize trips to metropolitan area companies are as de rigueur as trips to Silicon Valley.
     Tim Hugo, president of CapNet, a network of Washington-area high-tech businesses, said people are waking up to the area's role as a major technology player. Visits such as Mubarak's underscore that importance.
     "It symbolizes the change that has come to the greater Washington area," he said.
- by Caroline Broder