BellSouth Ranks #10 in This Year's InformationWeek 500 Survey

ATLANTA, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- InformationWeek has been recognizing the most innovative IT organizations for 17 years. This year, BellSouth was ranked as the #10 most innovative IT organization, on the list of 500.

"This recognition, particularly the jump from #147 in last year's survey to #10, speaks to the accomplishments of this organization," states BellSouth CIO Francis Dramis. "It is important because it recognizes the planning, innovative thinking and execution by our group. We are proud to be recognized by InformationWeek 500 again."

Stephanie Stahl, editor-in-chief of InformationWeek comments on this year's company candidates, "The InformationWeek 500 will invest in aggregate 3% of their annual revenue on IT this year -- an average cash outlay of $293 million. Collectively, the nation's most innovative users of technology will spend a total of $147 billion on information technology this year." Stahl continues, "To improve the efficiency of business operations, this year's IT innovators have devoted time to increase the use of automated processes, improve data integration between systems or departments, and established business-process frameworks to improve the running of business tasks."

Giving Back at BellSouth: It's in the Genes

BellSouth is also featured in InformationWeek for its commitment to community service. BellSouth volunteers made up of more than 100,000 active and retired employees contribute to their communities each year. For 2004, their volunteer hours were valued at more than $52 million. Giving something back to the communities where BellSouth employees live and work is at the core of the company.

Syncing education and technology together is a natural offshoot of BellSouth's community service plan. Starting in November, the BellSouth Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm, with support from BellSouth's IT organization, is launching an education and technology initiative that will include virtual learning to supplement regular classroom instruction for students.

Dramis sums up BellSouth's philosophy in the InformationWeek interview, "At the end of the day, people want to work for a company that stands for something."

About BellSouth Corporation

BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth has joint control and 40 percent ownership of Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless voice and data provider with 51.6 million customers.

Backed by award winning customer service, BellSouth offers the most comprehensive and innovative package of voice and data services available in the market. Through BellSouth Answers(R), residential and small business customers can bundle their local and long distance service with dial-up and high-speed DSL Internet access, satellite television and Cingular(R) Wireless service. For businesses, BellSouth provides secure, reliable local and long distance voice and data networking solutions. BellSouth also offers online and directory advertising through BellSouth(R) RealPages.com(R) and The Real Yellow Pages(R).

BellSouth believes that diversity and fostering an inclusive environment are critical in maintaining a competitive advantage in today's global marketplace. More information about BellSouth can be found at http://www.bellsouth.com/.

About InformationWeek

InformationWeek is the largest, most influential community of IT buyers and sellers focusing on, driving and setting the agenda for business innovation powered by technology. Every week, InformationWeek touches more than 1 million business technology executives worldwide through its magazine editions, online sites, research platforms, and peer-to-peer events. The InformationWeek Media Network consists of Optimize, Bank Systems & Technology, Insurance & Technology and Wall Street & Technology - all leading publications in their respective markets - as well as Government Enterprise. InformationWeek is consistently recognized for its commitment to excellence and innovation, and has received several of the industry's top media accolades, including top spots in BtoB Magazine's Media Power 50, Circulation Excellence Awards from Circulation Management Magazine and several awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE).

About CMP Media LLC

CMP Media (http://www.cmp.com/) is the leading integrated media solutions company providing "broad and deep" access to the entire technology spectrum - the builders, sellers and buyers of technology worldwide. The company's comprehensive database of technology decision makers enables marketers to reach targeted audiences throughout the purchase process with publications, web offerings, face-to-face events, consulting and other marketing services that deliver actionable results.