09/16/96 UNCLE SAM SETS HIS SITES ON YOU

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UNCLE SAM SETS HIS SITES ON YOU

The battle to teach workers new technology skills has been joined. The National Guard is building 150 high-tech centers nationwide to train its personnel--but it needs the space only on weeknights and one weekend a month. The rest of the time, it will rent out the sites, each with two classrooms, 32 computers, software, and teleconferencing.
When the $65 million project is completed by late 1997, a small-business owner angry at an out-of-state supplier ``can go to the videoconferencing center and chew him out,'' says Bill Pierce, vice-president of Community Learning & Information Network, the developer. The video-call will cost $100 an hour--still cheaper than a plane ticket and more satisfying than a phone call. For $20 an hour, employees can learn to cruise the Internet or run Windows 95, using tutorial software.
The first campus opened in August in Huntington, W.Va. Already, Tom Pressman, president of Strictly Business Computer Systems, is planning a video-training session with a remote customer. Somebody else wants to wire a ``cyber cafe'' to the site so that patrons can E-mail orders to local restaurants. Information: 202 857-2330.
EDITED BY I. JEANNE DUGAN