DC's New Economy World: A Changing Landscape

The toll road to Washington's Dulles Airport, once just a sleepy lane, has transformed into a high-tech hotspot, home to Internet giant America Online and a host of other new-economy superstars. "It was just trees as far as the eye could see," says Kay McGrath, a DC native who works for a local Internet startup. "Now it's a whole other world."

Regional boosters have penned nicknames for this faster, fiercer Washington Mall -- Internet Capital, Silicon Dominion -- but none have stuck. The locals insist on calling it the Dulles Corridor, a pretty stodgy name. But if Washingtonians aren't as fast as they could be, they've got plenty of companies that are. Here's Fast Company's list of regional speedsters:

• Airbus Industrie of North America Inc.
• AFL-CIO
• America Online
• American Council for the United Nations University
• American Psychological Association
• Amtrak
• BET Holdings, Inc.
• CNN
• CyberCash Inc
• dog-ma
• Fannie Mae
• Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
• KPMG Consulting, LLC
• Lifeminders Inc.
• MCI WorldCom Inc.
• The Millennium Project of the American Council for the United Nations University
• The Morino Institute
• Motley Fool
• NASA
• National Defense University -- Information Resources Management College
• National Public Radio
• Network Solutions Inc.
• Patton Boggs, LLP
• Play
• Public Allies
• Recording Industry Association of America
• Share Our Strength (SOS)
• TSD Inc.
• United States Mint
• United States Postal Service
• Urban Family Institute
• US Patent Office
• Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson, and Hand
• Women's Consumer Network

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