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DigitalXpress, a St. Paul, Minn., -based provider of direct-broadcast satellite communications, has been selected as the official satellite broadcaster of the 1998 World Congress on Information Technology for the event's sponsors and their employees worldwide.

The event, scheduled for June 22-24 at George Mason University in Fairfax County, Va., is expected to draw 1,700 senior-level information technology (IT) executives from 50 countries.

Phil Condit, Boeing chairman of the board and chief executive officer, is scheduled to speak at the event. Boeing is a business partner in the DigitalXpress venture, along with Conus Communications and Ceridian Corporation.

The theme of World Congress -- "When the Convergence of Information Technology Meets Consumer Demand" -- frames presentations to be made by some of the world's most prominent industry, information technology (IT), government and academic leaders, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher, Steve Forbes and Michael Dell.

Using digital satellite broadcasting, DigitalXpress will distribute World Congress sessions to sponsors' geographically dispersed offices on a pay-per-view basis. The broadcasts will allow an unlimited number of viewers at any single site to "participate" in World Congress in real time.

"DigitalXpress is honored to broadcast World Congress, a rare gathering of world leaders who are meeting to discuss the impact of technology on our businesses and our everyday lives," said Bill Bearry, president and CEO of DigitalXpress.

"Advances in affordable technology are making things possible today that were out of reach of most organizations just a few years ago. This particular broadcast is a perfect example of how companies now can easily extend a global event to employees anywhere in the world using the highest-quality, most cost-effective information-technology solution: satellite communications."

World Congress is a biennial event dating back to 1978. Past hosts included Bilbao, Spain in 1996 and Yokohama, Japan in 1994. The event will take place in Taiwan in 2000 and Australia in 2002.

The primary host of World Congress -- The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) -- is an international organization of 28 associations representing the IT industry in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. In 1995, WITSA selected the United States and its U.S. association member, the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), to help host World Congress.

DigitalXpress specializes in high-quality, low-cost satellite-to-desktop digital video, audio and data information distribution systems for the business community.