Worldspan Intellicache(SM) Technology Goes Super High Tech to Support Global Airline Shopping
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Sophisticated availability solutions ensure travel buyers worldwide receive the most accurate information when shopping for air travel
DALLAS, March 7 / -- Worldspan Intellicache technology is setting the global pace in nurturing exponential growth in air travel shopping, helping airlines adapt and ensuring travel buyers have positive buying experiences. Worldspan's intelligent caching and availability solutions enable Worldspan, the global travel e-commerce leader, to achieve reliable sell success rates in online airline sales worldwide. Industry-leading solutions include the Worldspan Shopping Cache, Worldspan Airline Source(R) e- certified (patent pending), and the Worldspan Early Warning System. Intellicache solutions were revealed to the travel industry at large for the first time today at Res-Expo 2006, a technology and marketing conference probing products and trends impacting the global distribution industry.
Globally, Worldspan is the largest transaction processor for online travel agencies, giving Intellicache technology a substantial role in today's market for low-fare shopping. The technology is built to ensure travel buyers and retailers can purchase travel successfully, reduce operational costs and increase sales for airlines, and control message request overload on airline reservation systems. Worldspan is already working on next-generation caching solutions, including expansion to an open systems environment.
Tens of millions of availability request messages generated by consumers and travel retailers hit airline systems each hour, resulting in the high "look to book" ratios that occur in online shopping environments. The average hit reduction rate through Intellicache technology is greater than 20 percent, and for some carriers, Worldspan is able to reduce by 30 to 40 percent the number of message hits on their systems, which can represent millions of messages and their associated costs. In an internal study of one large U.S. domestic carrier, Worldspan successfully diverted 250 million trip inquiries each day to the Worldspan cache during the testing period.
"Intellicache is an example of how Worldspan works to anticipate and resolve challenges before our customers know they exist," said Sue Powers, Worldspan chief information officer and senior vice president - Worldwide Product Solutions. "We are developing solutions that ensure the best possible experience for all participants in travel, including consumers, travel distributors and retailers, and travel suppliers worldwide. A more efficient and improved process translates to reduced supplier costs, less sell failures and opportunities for all users of availability data."
Worldspan Shopping Cache: Through proprietary shopping cache technology, Worldspan collects millions of availability request messages in a sophisticated database. Storing availability with increasingly intelligent controls, including finely tuned shelf life parameters, dramatically reduces message hits on airline internal systems when travel retailers and consumers request availability. Caching controls result in reduced processing costs for airlines and improved sell rates by delivering more up-to-the-minute, accurate availability for shopping. This is an example of Worldspan's proactive approach to directly reduce processing costs for airline customers.
Worldspan Airline Source e-certified: E-certified was the first solution for airlines in managing availability requests in the high-traffic e-commerce environment. Engineered to support each airline's unique objectives, e- certified is the only Intellicache solution in which airlines must elect to participate; all other solutions automatically perform caching for airlines that participate in the Worldspan global distribution system (GDS).
Worldspan Early Warning System: When actual airline availability is out of sync with data distributed to travel buyers, sell failures lead to lost opportunities, lost customer loyalty and revenue loss for airlines and retailers. Worldspan's Early Warning System is the advanced diagnostic system that supports the entire Worldspan platform. It measures the effectiveness and success of all sell failure solutions, and results are used for benchmarking future developments. The system is used to monitor activity in real time by notifying Worldspan of problems associated with downed communications lines, software loads, processing changes, system abuse by third parties and other problems that interfere with data transmission between Worldspan, Worldspan- powered Web sites, and airline customers. The Early Warning System is also integrated in the Worldspan system, invoked for all participating carriers.
About Worldspan L.P.
Worldspan is a leader in travel technology services for travel suppliers, travel agencies, e-commerce sites and corporations worldwide. Utilizing some of the fastest, most flexible and efficient networks and computing technologies, Worldspan provides comprehensive electronic data services linking approximately 800 travel suppliers around the world to a global customer base. Worldspan offers industry-leading Fares and Pricing technology such as Worldspan e-Pricing(R), hosting solutions, and customized travel products. Worldspan enables travel suppliers, distributors and corporations to reduce costs and increase productivity with technology like Worldspan Go!(R) and Worldspan Trip Manager(R) XE. Worldspan is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Additional information is available at worldspan.com.
CONTACT: Erin Hadaway of Worldspan L.P., +1-770-563-6545, or erin.hadaway@worldspan.com
