BIG RIVER TELEPHONE HONORED WITH NUCLEUS RESEARCH AND TECHTARGET'S CIO DECISIONS 3RD ANNUAL TECHNOLOGY AWARD   Wellesley, Mass.,-July 28, 2005-Nucleus Research, a global provider of IT research and advisory services, and TechTarget's CIO Decisions magazine announced the winners of the 3rd annual Technology ROI Awards. The awards honor ten companies whose deployments of IT solutions have produced positive bottom-line financial and business results for their organizations and customers. "Today, the pressure is greater than ever for organizations to make the right decisions when it comes to using technology to advance business goals," said CIO Decisions Editor-in-Chief Maryfran Johnson. "Technology strategy affects every aspect of operations, and technology ROI is a closely monitored indicator of success. We are pleased to have partnered with Nucleus Research to recognize ten companies that have developed creative technological approaches to business challenges, and achieved significant ROI on those implementations. We look forward to sharing their success stories with top IT decision makers in the pages of CIO Decisions." To determine this year’s winners, Nucleus Research analysts worked closely with CIO Decisions editors and a panel of independent CIOs to evaluate each organization’s technological response to a business requirement. Nucleus Research then measured each implementation’s ROI using its proven methodology for ROI measurement. Based on the results of thousands of ROI assessments worldwide, the methodology verifies the costs and benefits of technology implementations and creates a metric representing the project's ROI over a three-year period. Big River Telephone Company, headquartered in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, was the only telephone company recipient and the only Missouri based company winner. "We are honored to be recognized by these leading IT organizations for the hard work the employees of Big River are doing. Everything we do is based on our customers and to have Chief Information Officers (CIO’s) from around the country recognize the effort of our team is tremendous, said Big River President, Kevin Cantwell. “The implementation of our Customer Support System has allowed us to exceed our customer’s needs and this award validates our work. Not only did we have CIO’s from across the country review our efforts but we have other Telecommunications Companies visit our operations to see how we have implemented technology to continue our growth and meet the expanding needs of our customers". To be eligible for consideration, applicants to the Technology ROI Awards must be headquartered in the United States and have annual corporate revenue of at least $50 million. Projects had to be installed and in operation no later than Jan 1, 2004. Each entry was subject to in-depth analysis, including interviews with system users to verify all claimed benefits. Winners were announced at a special luncheon and awards program hosted by CIO Decisions and Nucleus Research at the CIO Decisions Conference, July 28, 2005 in Pebble Beach, CA. About CIO Decisions TechTarget's CIO Decisions is the first monthly magazine designed to serve CIOs and senior IT executives in the 40,000 businesses in the US midmarket. Together, these businesses - companies with approximately 100 to 1000 employees or revenues from $50 million to $2 billion - represent the largest and fastest-growing market for IT products and services. More information is available at http://www.ciodecisions.com. About Big River Telephone Company Big River Telephone, with over twenty years of experience, is one of the oldest competitive telephone company providers in the country, as well as the largest in the region. The Cape Girardeau-based company operates an Advanced Digital Network that delivers local, long distance, data, VoIP, and Internet services to residences and businesses. Big River Telephone brings network service solutions to its customers and has the capabilities to meet businesses needs throughout the United States. More Information is available at http://www.bigrivertelephone.com About Nucleus Research Nucleus Research is a global provider of IT advisory and research services that provides CFOs, CIOs and their staffs with the real-world information they need to maximize the business returns from their technology investments. Its analysts blend financial analysis and case-based investigations with comprehensive technology expertise to deliver factual return-on-investment (ROI) data to organizations worldwide. The company uses an uncompromising set of processes and tools to evaluate the financial return on IT assets and is the only firm to gain certification by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. Nucleus Research has analyst experts across the entire enterprise software and hardware space and provides clients with ongoing advice to help with both short-term technology decisions and long-term strategic plans. For more information, visit www.nucleusresearch.com.