ATLANTA - July 1, 2008 - Southern Company today announced that IDG's Computerworld Magazine ranked it among the top workplaces for information technology (IT) professionals in its annual "100 Best Places to Work in Information Technology" list published June 30. Southern Company placed 28 among all companies ranked, first among electric utilities, and second among Georgia companies.

Since 1994, Computerworld's annual "Best Places to Work in IT" feature has ranked the top 100 work environments for technology professionals, based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, diversity, career development, training and retention. In addition, this year Computerworld surveyed more than 31,000 IT workers for the list, and their responses factored heavily in determining the rankings.

"Our people are our company. This recognition is testament to the 1,100 IT employees who not only do an outstanding job, but continuously raise the bar by making Southern Company an even greater place to work," said Alan Martin, executive vice president, Southern Company and president & CEO, Southern Company Services.

Southern Company fosters an open and candid work environment where innovation and recognition are important. Four years ago, the IT organization at Southern Company developed a program to protect the company's intellectual property by rewarding employees for their innovations and the additional value they provided. The organization also awards successful project managers and employees who strive to make a great place to work through an annual awards program.

"Being among the Best Places to Work in IT means crafting a blend of employee advantages that include the potential for flexible hours, competitive pay, excellent benefits, a supportive leadership environment, opportunities for ongoing training and advancement, and ultimately, the feeling that you'd like to stay with the company a long, long time," said Scot Finnie, editor in chief of Computerworld.

About Computerworld

Computerworld is the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide. Computerworld's award-winning weekly publication, Computerworld.com Web site (http://www.computerworld.com/), focused conference series and custom research form the hub of the world's largest (40+ edition) global IT media network. In the past five years alone, Computerworld has won more than 100 awards, including Folio Magazine's 2006 Gold EDDIE Award for the best technology/computing magazine, the 2004 and 2006 Magazine of the Year Award, and 2006 Best Overall Web Publication from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE). Computerworld leads the industry with a print audience of 1,252,000 readers each week (IntelliQuest CIMS Spring 2006) and an online audience of over 2 million unique monthly visitors (Omniture).

About Southern Company

With nearly 4.4 million customers and more than 42,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast, one of America's fastest-growing regions. A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are significantly below the national average. Southern Company has been listed the top ranking U.S. electric service provider in customer satisfaction for nine consecutive years by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Visit our Web site at http://www.southerncompany.com/

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Media Contact: Valerie Holpp, Southern Company Corporate Communications, (+1.404) 506.5333 or (+1.866) 506.5333, media@southerncompany.com