Network World Reports a 6% Increase in Network
Industry Revenues
After Two Years of Decline, NW200 Companies are Turning the Corner

April 27, 2004 – Southborough, MA – Network World, Inc., the leading Network IT media company, today published its 10th annual Network World 200 list of the largest domestic public network companies, marking a decade of industry growth, maturation and reinvention. After a two-year retreat, sales for the NW200 headed back in the right direction, climbing 6% from last year to $818 billion. And after two years of staggering losses, the network companies reported $61 billion in profit for the year 2003.

"Some positive signs bubbled up in this, our tenth annual survey," says John Dix, editor-in-chief, Network World. "The number of companies enjoying sales growth is climbing back up (68% of the NW200 companies sold more goods and services than they did the preceding year), more companies ended the year in the black, and Wall Street is more bullish about the prospects of the NW200 - all promising signs that a recovery is underway."

The ten companies topping the list were: IBM (NYSE:IBM), HP (NYSE, NASDAQ:HPQ), Verizon (NYSE:VZ), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), SBC (NYSE:SBC), Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), AT&T (NYSE:T), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Motorola (NYSE:MOT).

In addition to the 200 list, the Network World 200 Issue honors ten fledgling companies with its 2004 10 Start-ups to Watch distinction. Companies earning this year's tribute offer creative approaches for addressing today's enterprise network challenges, from stopping spam to new data center infrastructure software designed to weed out duplicated or outdated files. Demonstrating that investors are bullish about network technology, this year's 10 start-ups have received more than $80 million in funding over roughly the last six months.

An interactive version of the NW200 list, which can be sorted by profits, productivity and other measures, and the NW200 Compare-o-Matic, which allows comparisons of any two or more NW200 companies, are available on Network World Fusion, at www.nwfusion.com/nw200/2004.

The NW200 is one of six Signature Series issues published bimonthly by Network World. This award-winning, high-profile series provide a comprehensive exploration of the most important business and technical issues facing Network IT Executives today.