Travel Industry's First Web Services Solution Leverages Galileo's GDS, Saves
Up to 80% in Development Time and Lowers Cost
PARSIPPANY, N.J., and LANGLEY, England, May 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Galileo International, a leading global distribution services (GDS) company
and subsidiary of Cendant Corp. (NYSE: CD), today announced the availability
of its leading Web services technology on a global basis. The first GDS to
offer Web services to the travel industry last summer, Galileo has
successfully implemented a multitude of travel agency and developer Beta
customers, deployed Web services to some of its own travel brands and is now
making the services available globally in the North America, Europe, Middle
East and Africa (EMEA) regions to existing and future customers.
Galileo Web Services enables travel agencies, technology development partners
and suppliers of air, hotel, car, rail and cruise services to seamlessly
integrate Galileo data and functions into their applications via the Internet,
thereby reducing development time, effort, maintenance and operating costs.
According to Henry Harteveldt, principal analyst with Forrester Research,
Web services' ability to link disparate operating platforms and applications
quickly and at a relatively low cost makes them critical technologies for
travel. Forrester views Cendant Corp. as travel's most comprehensive Web
services provider. Cendant uses Web services to link various business units
like Cheap Tickets to content and functionality within the Galileo GDS and
beyond.(1)
Galileo has developed its Web services using simple XML standard industry
protocols and infrastructure easily accessible via the World Wide Web,
eliminating the traditional technology barriers of disparate operating systems
and the need for costly user hardware, such as servers, and dedicated
telecommunications lines. The product also reduces support and development
costs by ending the need for developer knowledge of Galileo-specific GDS
commands in order to bring the client's applications online.
To further ease integration, and reduce time to market, Galileo Web
Services provides a suite of pre-developed services that address the most
commonly used processes, such as booking and modifying reservations. These
are:
Reservation building -- combining booking functions into one call to the
GDS Trip planning -- one-stop fully-integrated fare shopping, sorting of
air, car and hotel selections in one call
Real-time flight information (FLIFO)
Itinerary viewing -- allowing the retrieval of detailed itinerary
information in one display
Travel codes translation -- providing translation for Galileo's local
data, which maps travel-industry names and codes recognized by the GDS
For example, an airport hotel wishing to provide personalized flight
departure information to its guests could now do so with Galileo Web Services'
FLIFO without the long development times and intimate industry programming
knowledge previously required.
Galileo Web Services have undergone extensive Beta testing with key
customers in the United States and EMEA, resulting in a number of successful
global pilots over the past year. Galileo continues to enroll new customers,
and is now making the offering more broadly available to travel agencies,
travel suppliers, and software partners around the world.
Galileo customers in Europe are already exploring the opportunities that
Web services functionality can bring and the new services that they will be
able to offer their own customers as a result. Leigh Brazier, development
manager, Virgin Travelstore, said:
"This is a long-awaited, major step forward for the travel industry. We're
looking for innovations that will allow us to reduce development time and cost
for building applications that will help travellers better manage their travel
plans, no matter where they are. Galileo Web Services will enable us to do
this quickly and easily in a way that we believe will provide us with a
competitive advantage."
Jonathan Siddons, vice president, Product Marketing and Development, for
Galileo's EMEA region, said:
"Until now, customers who wanted to develop travel applications would have
had to invest a great deal of time, money and programming expertise. With
Galileo Web Services, our data is open and accessible to our customers through
an interface that will not only increase functionality but reduce project
development times by as much as 50-80 percent."
Galileo customers in the U.S. are also realizing the benefits of seamless
integration. Tina Finch, chief executive officer, EzRez Software, a software
development consultancy to the travel industry, said:
"EzRez was able to deploy Galileo's travel solutions over 80 percent
faster than what was possible prior to Web services. This will ultimately
translate to quicker implementation, additional sales opportunities, and
reduced resource requirements."
In addition to providing services to third parties, Cendant has applied
Galileo Web Services to many of its own travel brands. For example, Galileo
Web Services currently benefits Cheap Tickets and facilitates hotel
availability requests for Lodging.com, both owned by Galileo's parent company
Cendant. Additionally, Galileo Web Services have been leveraged to provide
the infrastructure for JumpStart, a recently launched collaborative effort
among Cendant companies; Galileo, TRUST and WizCom. JumpStart is designed to
provide online agencies or Internet Distribution Sites (IDS) and Tour
Operators with access through one connection to a comprehensive distribution
network of travel inventory.
Note to Editors:
A PPT demonstration of Web Services is available at
http://www.galileo.com/pdfs/GalileoWebServices.pdf
Galileo Web Services are built on the industry-standard Simple Object
Access Protocol (SOAP) which provides a way for applications to communicate
over the Internet, independent of platform and using structured XML(extensible
markup language) data from Galileo's systems.
Because Galileo Web Services adheres to cross-platform Web services
standards, GWS client applications can be deployed in any environment that
supports HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), including Windows(R), UNIX and
LINUX, without requiring bridges or specialized interfaces. In addition, a
wide variety of languages and development developer toolkits can be used to
design and deploy client applications for Galileo Web Services.
Web services is the latest evolution of Galileo's 360(degree) Developer
Tools solution.
Galileo 360(degree) Developer Tools
With a Web services offering, Galileo International now offers a wider
choice of XML-based developer tools for its client base than any other GDS.
Galileo has continued to invest in XML-based API (Application Programming
Interface) solutions since 2000, which saw the release of an install version
XML Select API solution. Subsequently, the Web services API suite of services
was built on the same XML structures, allowing a developer an easy transition
to the Web services version of the XML Select API. Galileo's desktop XML API
also uses the same XML structures, allowing re-usage of code and skills for
customers developing client and internal desktop solutions.
The investment in a Web services architecture also paves the way for
Galileo to combine existing applications, components and business logic as
shared services in a service orientated architecture, further adding value to
it's offering while reducing overall costs by re-using the same service for
multiple solutions and channels.
About Galileo International
Galileo International is a global technology leader. Its core business is
providing electronic global distribution services for the travel industry
through its computerized reservation systems, leading-edge products and
innovative Internet-based solutions. Galileo is a value-added distributor of
travel inventory dedicated to supporting its travel supplier, agency and
corporate customers and, through them, expanding traveler choice. A subsidiary
of Cendant Corporation, Galileo is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey,
U.S.A., and has offices worldwide. Visit http://www.galileo.com.
About Cendant Travel Distribution Services Division
Cendant's Travel Distribution Services Division is one of the world's largest
and most geographically diverse collections of travel distribution businesses.
The division, employing some 5,000 people in more than 110 countries,
includes: Galileo, a leading global distribution system (GDS) serving more
than 47,000 travel agencies and over 51,000 hotels; hotel distribution and
services businesses (Trust, THOR, WizCom); leading travel agencies, including
Cheap Tickets and Lodging.com; an airline market intelligence company; and
Highwire, a corporate travel booking company.
(1)Travel First Look, Forrester Research, May 7, 2003
SOURCE Galileo International
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Related links:
http://www.galileo.com
http://www.galileo.com/pdfs/GalileoWebServices.pdf
CONTACT:
Jill Brenner of Galileo International, The
Americas, +1-973-496-4127, jill.brenner@cendant.com; or Julian
Cacchioli of Galileo International, EMEA, +44-1753-288260,
Julian.Cacchioli@Galileo.com
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