Please direct your media and public relations inquiries to: mediarelations@cdw.com 800-800-4CDW CDW Wins National Better Business Bureau Award for Outstanding Business Ethics VERNON HILLS, Ill. - With a 15-year history of demonstrating the highest standard of business practices, CDW Computer Centers, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDWC) today received national recognition from the Better Business Bureau for outstanding ethics. After capturing top honors regionally from the Chicagoland/Northern Illinois chapter in November, CDW advanced to the national competition for the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics and last week became one of only six finalists nationwide in the large company category. "This award is more important to us than any other honor CDW has earned because it recognizes us for being honest and fair, and reaffirms our commitment to delivering outstanding customer service," said Michael Krasny, CDW founder and chief executive officer. "With a business model built on the strength of one-on-one personal relationships with our customers, we know that building relationships stems from building trust. CDW is proud to be a company people like and trust." Competing against more than 1,000 entries submitted nationwide, CDW was selected as a national finalist by an independent panel of judges comprised of ethics experts from business and academia. CDW is one of only two high-tech companies and one of only two companies from Illinois to win national honors. "Through the national competition, and all of the local competitions, the Better Business Bureau system is bringing positive attention to the many businesses that do care about maintaining good relations with their customers, employees, competitors and communities. These businesses have discovered the long-term value of excellence, fairness, honesty and trustworthiness in their day-to-day operations," said Calvin J. Collier, chair of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. At CDW, outstanding ethics and business practices reach far beyond its customers to the heart of the organization-its coworkers-and to the Chicagoland community. Employee-friendly policies earned CDW the No. 36 spot on FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work for In America" earlier this year. Throughout its 15-year history, the company has built a strong presence in the community through its ethical, socially conscience business practices. CDW has been recognized repeatedly as a dedicated, committed community partner through its ongoing support to local charitable organizations like the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Children's Memorial Hospital and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Krasny will represent CDW at the awards ceremony on March 29 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. At the event, CNN prime anchor and senior correspondent Judy Woodruff will announce the national winners and share her thoughts on business and government ethics with leaders from business, consumer, academic, government and news media. This national Better Business Bureau ethics award will take its place in CDW's rapidly growing "trophy case." In the past six months alone, the company has received more than 11 national honors. Most recently, CDW won the World Class Sales Force Award, compiled from independent customer satisfaction research and presented by the HR Chally Group. In addition to winning the regional Better Business Award and the FORTUNE 100 best companies ranking, CDW has also recently been recognized with three Computer Shopper Best Buy awards, the No. 60 spot on InformationWeek's 500 most innovative IT users, No. 36 on FORTUNE magazine's "America's 100 Fastest-Growing Companies," and inclusion on PC Magazine's "100 Most Influential Companies of 1998." About CDW CDW® (NASDAQ: CDWC), a Fortune 1000 company, is the country's leading direct solutions provider, offering complete, customized computing solutions for business and consumers nationwide. With competitive prices on a selection of thousands of brand name computer products, CDW is the No. 1 authorized direct source of Compaq, Computer Associates, IBM, Microsoft, Toshiba and other top name brands. Founded in 1984 as a one-man, home-based business, CDW today employs more than 1,500 coworkers whose efforts generated net sales of $1.7 billion for the trailing twelve months ended December 31, 1998. CDW's pioneering direct model offers personalized expertise through one-on-one relationships with highly-trained, knowledgeable account managers; telephone and online purchasing; custom configured solutions; next day shipping; and lifetime phone and online technical support, with close to 60 factory-trained and A+ certified technicians on staff. Formally known as Computer Discount Warehouse, the company shortened its name to CDW in conjunction with the October 1998 launch of its first corporate branding campaign, which also included the introduction of a new logo and corporate tagline, Computing Solutions Built for Business™. For more information About CDW's products and services, call 800-797-4239 or visit the award-winning e-commerce Web site at www.cdw.com. For media inquiries or general company information, please call CDW's media relations at 888-CDW-7040.