Network World, 01/04/99

Each year, through the User Excellence Award competition, Network World honors organizations that best demonstrate the innovative and effective use of network technology to achieve corporate objectives.

This year's winner, Unity Health, is a health care organization formed by the merger of six hospitals in the St. Louis area. Unity Health met the challenge of integrating disparate networks head-on, devising a new ATM metropolitan-area network that delivers better service to patients while cutting costs and streamlining operations. And it did this all under a tight, Year 2000-driven deadline.

The two runners-up, Best Western and Prudential, demonstrate the power of networking in different ways. Best Western developed a Web-based reservation system that's credited with boosting hotel revenue by about $50 million per year . And Prudential spent more than $100 million to outfit some 12,000 workers with tools that bring the power of networking wherever the workers may be - a project that's expected to pay for itself in two years or less. The company also built a new Operations Control Center that enables 55 IT professionals to monitor Prudential's 800 sites around the globe.

Unity Health, Best Western and Prudential are this year's network stars. In June, we'll be selecting the 1999 winners, so wrap up those projects and look for entry information come spring.