BNSF Railway Company has been honored with Network World Magazine's 2005 Enterprise All-Star Award.

The annual awards program, which recognizes 50 enterprise organizations' exceptional use of network technology to further business objectives, recognized BNSF for the railway's Voice Technology initiative. BNSF also earned the distinction of being the only organization in the railroad industry to receive the coveted award.

"Through this award, we honor BNSF Railway for its innovative approach in dealing with a mission-critical voice application," said Beth Schultz, editor, Network World Signature Series. "We were impressed with how much applying IP voice and other voice technology to the train reporting application transformed business operations and reduced costs for the company. The project certainly exemplifies the All-Star concept."

BNSF is leveraging Voice Technology as an important channel for communication, an important vehicle for conducting business, and as a way to enhance service. Voice Train Reporting is an innovative, speech-enabled voice technology that allows conductors on locomotives to report pickup and delivery of freight cars containing customers' shipments.

"BNSF is thrilled to be honored as an Enterprise All-Star by Network World Magazine," said Jeffrey Campbell, vice president, Technology Services and CIO, BNSF Railway. "Our focus on convergence and VoIP, from which the Voice Technology initiative emerged, is one of the integral steps towards realizing our vision of being an eSynchronous railroad.

"This is truly a proud moment for the BNSF team," added Campbell.