Landstar Deploys Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite to Connect Affiliated Independent Small Business Customers

Industry's Only Comprehensive Data Integration Suite Combines Data from Three Disparate Landstar systems; Feeds it to Web and Business Intelligence Applications

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 18, 2003 - Landstar System, Inc. (Nasdaq: LSTR), one of the country's most innovative and fastest-growing transportation services companies, has deployed the Enterprise Integration Suite from Ascential Software Corporation (Nasdaq: ASCL) to share strategic business data across its extensive network of independent truckers, agents and customers via the Web.

Named to Forbes Magazine's Platinum 400 List for four consecutive years, Landstar runs an extensive network that enables the company to call on a massive variety of equipment to handle most any transportation request. The Ascential(TM) Suite is integral to the rapid sharing of data between the company and its nearly 1,000 independent sales agents and more than 7,000 independent business capacity owners who supply more than 8,000 power units to the Landstar system.

Landstar System, Inc., the holding company for six operating companies, deployed the Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite to profile, transform and load high volumes of disparate data from those companies' legacy computer systems into a central data warehouse. That Ascential-based data warehouse feeds standardized data to Landstar's robust business-to-business Website and business intelligence applications in near real time to meet the immediate needs of a broad range of vital business contributors, including the company's agents, transport suppliers and customers.

"Landstar's success is predicated on the success of our affiliated network of sales agents and business capacity owners -- thousands of small businesses," said Landstar Vice President of Advanced Technology Patrick Wise. "And that entire network depends on continuous flows of accurate, timely data about every aspect of our shared business. Ascential's Enterprise Suite fits our needs hand-in-glove. Moreover, Ascential is demonstrating its eagerness to expand our relationship as we continue to grow rapidly, and is taking the right steps to provide us with Web Services capabilities."

Forbes magazine noted in its most recent Platinum 400 listing that Landstar's stock price has increased 297 percent over the past five years.

"It's no coincidence that a 21st century transportation innovator like Landstar is benefiting from the most innovative and comprehensive enterprise integration solution available -- the Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite," said Mike Cassettari, vice president of marketing at Ascential. "We look forward to helping Landstar continue to reach its objectives through the cost- effective integration and cleansing of very high volumes of data through our Suite."

Ascential DataStage(R) is a foundation product within the new Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite, which combines the company's three data integration products for data profiling (MetaRecon(R)), data quality (INTEGRITY), and data transformation (DataStage) on a shared platform of software services that achieves scalability through parallel processing, management of metadata (descriptive information about data), and virtually any-to-any connectivity of source and target data.

Many of today's most competitive enterprises are deploying Ascential solutions to transform their large, complex, and constantly growing data flows into intelligent information by feeding that information into such strategic applications as customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), business intelligence/analytics, data warehouses, and other enterprise applications. This, in turn, allows customers to achieve the ROI that they originally expected from those applications.

About Landstar

Landstar System, Inc. is a safety-first non-asset based transportation capacity provider headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. The Landstar carrier group of companies, comprised of Landstar Gemini, Inc., Landstar Inway, Inc., Landstar Ligon, Inc. and Landstar Ranger, Inc., delivers excellence in complete over-the-road transportation services. The Landstar multimodal group, comprised of Landstar Express America, Inc. and Landstar Logistics, Inc., delivers excellence in expedited, contract logistics and intermodal transportation services. All Landstar operating companies are certified to ISO 9001:2000 quality management system standards. Landstar System, Inc.'s common stock trades on The NASDAQ Stock Market(R) under the symbol LSTR.

About Ascential

Ascential Software Corporation is the leading provider of enterprise integration solutions to the Global 2000. Customers use the Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite and products to turn vast amounts of disparate, unrefined data into reusable information that drives business success. Ascential's unique comprehensive data integration suite enables customers to easily collect, validate, organize, administer and deliver information to realize more value from their enterprise data, reduce costs and increase profitability. Headquartered in Westboro, Mass., Ascential has offices worldwide and supports more than 2,200 customers in such industries as financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, consumer goods and retail. More information on Ascential can be found on the Web at http://www.ascential.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events, and these statements are subject to important factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release address a variety of subjects including, for example, the functionality, characteristics, quality and performance capabilities of Ascential's products and technology; results achievable through deployment of Ascential's products; provision of Web Services capabilities; provision of cost-effective integration and cleansing of data; returns on investment; and the ability of Ascential's customers to easily collect, validate, organize, administer and deliver information to realize more value from their enterprise data, reduce costs and increase profitability. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements: risks relating to Ascential's sale to IBM of its database business, the ability of Ascential to expand its market share, growth rates for the enterprise data integration software market, general business conditions in the software industry, the technology sector, and in the domestic and international economies, rapid technological change in the markets served by Ascential, dependence on international operations, and difficulties that Ascential may experience integrating technologies, operations and personnel of completed or future acquisitions. For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements, please refer to the filings made by Ascential with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, the most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Ascential disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements made herein to reflect any change in Ascential's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which such statements are based.

Ascential, DataStage, INTEGRITY and MetaRecon are trademarks of Ascential Software Corporation or its affiliates and may be registered in the United States or other jurisdictions. Other marks are the property of the owners of those marks.

SOURCE Ascential Software Corporation

Web Site: http://www.ascential.com