2004 InfoWorld 100

To avoid the budget ax, IT departments have made strides in demystifying the black magic of realistic ROI. By the same token, to figure out where the money is going, the business side has endeavored to learn enough to be dangerous about information technology.

Yet most IT managers remain convinced that, outside of a small circle of technologists, no one really understands them or the challenges they face. That’s one reason why the annual InfoWorld 100 is such an important institution: It provides a unique forum where IT managers get the recognition they deserve for smart, successful projects from an audience of their peers.

To enter the winners circle, an InfoWorld 100 project must stretch beyond the typical, off-the-shelf solution. As judges, our editors have an explicit bias toward multiple technologies used in innovative ways to serve well-defined business goals. That’s why, this year, we picked a ground-up development project, UPS’ package flow initiative, as the top InfoWorld 100 project. By closely modeling the logistics of package routing and loading, and writing software to manage them, UPS will eventually save more than half a billion dollars annually.

In this and other winning projects, you will find object lessons to help you plan and sell initiatives — and maybe even help with the day-to-day task of making things work. Like a good blog, the InfoWorld 100 serves as a clearinghouse of ideas for people with similar challenges. Online or offline, that’s essentially the definition of community.

The 2004 InfoWorld 100

ARCHITECTURE
Gensler
gensler.com
Distributed systems optimization

COMPUTING
IBM
ibm.com
Unified supply-chain management

CONSTRUCTION
Beazer Homes
beazer.com
Integrated sales system

DISTRIBUTION/SUPPLY CHAIN
Arrow Electronics
arrow.com
Shop-floor control system

Avnet
avnet.com
Web services partner integration

EDUCATION
Academy of Art University
academyart.edu
Full ERP and Wi-Fi deployment

Michigan State University
bus.msu.edu/msc
On-demand supply-chain research

Somerset Area School District
sasdpa.net
SSL VPN for unified school network

ENERGY
BP
bp.com
Wireless railcar monitoring

BP
bp.com
Wireless vibration sensors for tankers

Calpine
calpine.com
Dynamic, predictive querying tool

Calpine
calpine.com
Integrated risk control system