Fierce competitors America Online Chairman Steve Case and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will be attending dueling receptions Tuesday evening. Gates will be the star guest at a Business Software Alliance party while Case is to preside over a coming-out for the D.C.-area high-tech lobbying group, CapNet. The BSA party has Silicon Valley star power, with the 12 CEOs it has brought to town to lobby Congress on software issues. BSA has invited the chair and ranking members of committees important to high-tech types and others who have championed technology on the Hill. CapNet has invited regional stars such as George Vradenburg, AOL's senior vice-president for global and strategic policy, Charles Manatt, principal at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, MCI/WorldCom's Jonathan Sallett, the Morino Group's Mario Morino, IBM's Christopher Caine and Network Solutions' Michael Daniels.

     As high-tech grows and grows in Washington prominence, so do the job openings. Two of the industry's giants, Microsoft and Intel, are considering hiring a person to handle media relations to specifically focus on the issues related to Congress, according to several people familiar with the companies' plans. In addition, Charles Schwab is considering hiring an analyst to focus on Internet companies in DC, and Alexander Ogilvy is expanding its DC office and looking for a policy person to focus on high-tech issues.

     The alumni ranks of the American Electronics Association continue to grow. Karen Frey, director of public communications at AEA, is leaving for Price Waterhouse Coopers where she will also handle press relations on information technology for the accounting firm's management consulting unit.

     Another association to lose a staff member is the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). ITI's broadband expert, Fiona Branton left to pursue other interests. ITI is looking to fill Branton's position— vice president of government relations— as quickly as possible. In other ITI news, Microsoft will become the association's newest member this month, a company official said. Up until this month, ITI had mostly represented computer hardware and equipment manufacturers, such as IBM, Compaq, Apple and Cisco Systems.

     Former House Republican Conference aide Greg Sedberry is now a Web entrepreneur. Sedberry, 25, who left the Hill in January, has just launched his own company, Wedge Internet. The fledgling company fills a uniquely inside-the-Beltway niche: Web development and maintenance for members of Congress, congressional committees, and trade groups. As the Republican Conference's information technology director, Sedberry spent a year doing Web design and system support, and helped create HillSource, the Conference's Web page. Sedberry first discovered the communications value of the Internet during a year-long stint as a state affairs coordinator for the Chemical Manufacturers Association. After he left Capitol Hill, Sedberry said, his thirst for politics remained – so he tapped into his technology experience and Hill contacts and staked a claim in cyberspace.

     America Online's director of political programming Kathleen deLaski, Senate Democratic Technology Advisor Chris Casey, House Republican Conference Web master Jeff Mascott, Democratic National Committee Web master Linda Sinoway and other Internet strategists recently banded to form the Communications and Policy Technology Network. CAPTN is aimed at Web masters and strategists who work in the public affairs, policy and political area. The group plans to next gather on June 23, for a luncheon at George Washington University.

     Students who attend The Woodside School, including the children of venture capitalist John Doerr, Siebel Systems founder Tom Siebel and Intuit founder Scott Cook, will be seeing tighter security on campus. The elementary school, located in one of the tonier parts of the Silicon Valley neighborhood is the subject of portion of Newsweek reporter David Kaplan's soon-to-be released book, "The Silicon Valley Boys." Kaplan's book is about the lifestyles of Silicon Valley's high-tech executives and in one section, he details attempts to keep him out of the Woodside Grand Auction Night 1998, which benefits the school.

     Speaking of education, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-CT, recently had a long conversation with Intel CEO Andrew Grove about the company's attempts to improve the education system in Silicon Valley. Grove spent more than an hour last Thursday morning with Dodd and Sens. Ron Wyden, D-OR, Bob Bennett, R-UT, and Bill Frist, R-TN, talking about the Y2K bill that was about to be debated on the Senate floor and education, Dodd said.

     Former Rep. Rick White, R-WA, who rejoined his old law firm, Perkins Coie, after losing his seat to Rep. Jay Inslee, D-WA, is maintaining his presence in the high-tech scene. White is in DC this week to talk with clients and Congressional members he worked with in the past. White will not be lobbying, but he plans to talk with members to keep up on export issues and other topics.

     David House, president of Nortel Networks, plans to resign at the end of August, according to published reports. He's a veteran of Hewlett-Packard and Intel. His departure comes a year after Nortel bought Bay Networks.

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