77-Year Old Trucking Company Honored by Network World With Annual e-commerce Award; Fortune 1000 Company ABF Freight System Wins E-comm Innovator of the Year.

Business/Technology Editors

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 2001

Network World, the nation's leading network newspaper, today honored ABF Freight System, the 77-year old trucking company and the largest subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corporation. Network World detailed the award winning implementation in its third annual Electronic Commerce Issue. See story online at www.nwfusion.com/ecomm2001/. Network World will honor ABF Freight System at IDG's Internet Commerce Expo (ICE) conference taking place this summer in Las Vegas, NV.

Network World's E-comm Innovator of the Year Award is bestowed on a company that approaches B2B e-commerce with a well-thought out business plan, intimate knowledge of the target customer base, and strong technology underpinnings. This year, ABF Freight System, a transportation company in Fort Smith, Arkansas, wins the award for raising the bar on B2B e-commerce and proving that innovation isn't solely the domain of fleet-footed upstarts.

"For many companies, e-commerce causes as many problems as it solves. But ABF stands as an example of how to do e-commerce right," said Julie Bort, Network World's Signature Series Executive Editor. "Their network design lets the mainframe be accessed by anything from web browsers to telephones to wireless devices. This, in turn, has freed them to create loads of innovative online features."

The e-business infrastructure, wrapped around ABF's IBM mainframe, is saving more than $1 million per year while providing a level of self-service never before available in this market. Users can now download updated versions of freight rates, map routes and even get progress reports of a shipment in transit. The site, dubbed eCenter, boasts more than 23,000 registered users from more than 17,000 ABF customers. And, with e-commerce, ABF developed a new line of consumer business, called U-Pack Moving. U-Pack provides a service similar to a full-service mover by providing the truck and driver (the customer loads and unloads) but at a cost near the do-it-yourself truck rental rate. ABF primarily sells U-Pack over the web, and handles thousands of shipments each year. Consumers can also use the Web to schedule the rare, extremely large shipment, such as the sale of a motorcycle via eBay.

Network World's Electronic Commerce Issue, in its third year, is part of Network World's Signature Series, an innovative series of six special issues published bi-monthly. The series is designed to explore the most important issues facing Network IS professionals, the people directly responsible for strategizing, designing, building and managing enterprise-wide computer networks. The six issues in the series are The Power Issue, The Electronic Commerce Issue, The Network World 200 Issue, The You Issue, The Buzz Issue, and The Best Issue.

About Network World

Network World, Inc., the Leader in Network Knowledge, empowers Network Leaders and enables e-business through education, information and community. Network World is the leading provider of news, analysis, reviews, events and education on information technology. Network World publishes the leading newsweekly, Network World, hosts the most active online community, Network World Fusion (http://www.nwfusion), and produces educational seminars and events worldwide.

About International Data Group-

Network World, Inc. is a division of IDG, the world's leading IT media, research and exposition company. IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers and 4,000 book titles and offers online users the largest network of technology-specific sites around the world through IDG.net (http://www.idg.net), which comprises more than 270 targeted Web sites in 70 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 168 computer-related expositions worldwide, and provides IT market analysis through 50 offices in 43 countries worldwide. Company information is available at http://www.idg.com.