Meetings Beat: GDS Partners With Meetings Tech Firm For Air Booking

GDS Partners With Meetings Tech Firm For Air Booking
Amadeus and meetings registration technology provider Arcaneo Inc. last month announced a partnership to give meeting attendees an online link to book their own air travel. Toronto-based Arcaneo has similar partnerships with Concur Technologies' Cliqbook and TRX's ResX booking tools. Shared customers in the partnerships can purchase integration for their travel management technology to allow meeting attendees to book their air travel when registering for an event, according to a company release. The partnership would "deliver substantial time and cost savings potential to both our customer groups. Arcaneo's goal is to continue responding to customer demands by enhancing the user experience with streamlined electronic communications between systems," said Arcaneo CEO and president Dale Beckles in the release. Marcos Isaac, director of corporate and distribution channels for Amadeus, said that the connection between the meetings tool and online booking tool provides mutual customers with a smoother and faster booking process. "All this allows us to provide our mutual customers with more support, flexibility and a smoother and faster booking process, ultimately resulting in increased cost savings," Isaac said. Arcaneo has approximately 30 corporate clients using its technology, including Best Buy, GlaxoSmithKline and HSBC, among others. "The integration with Amadeus E-Travel Management is a capability a number of customers have been requesting. Companies need to track meeting-related spend and activities globally in order to implement a true strategic meetings management program," said Clement Ng, vice president of client services at Arcaneo.

Cisco Offers Virtual-Meeting Conferencing Tool
San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco Systems Inc. last month announced the TelePresence Meeting solution, a new virtual-meetings remote conferencing product. "Until now, there was no effective way to increase the number of high-quality interactions and drive greater productivity without more travel. Cisco has met this demand by creating a new way to meet," said Marthin De Beer, vice president of Cisco's emerging markets technology group, in a company release. Through the tool, life-size, ultra-high-definition images and audio of attendees are projected to appear so that participants feel they are all in the same room. The tool is available in two models: One, for small meetings and one-on-one conversations, includes a single screen and retails at $79,000. The other, for meetings of 12 attendees or more, has a price tag of $299,000 and is a room with three 65-inch plasma displays, high-definition cameras, a table and lighting. Both are expected to become available by year-end. Cisco also is developing a program in which service providers may attain TelePresence network certification. Current partners include AT&T and Verizon. AT&T said it plans to incorporate the system into its network integration and managed video communications portfolio, pending the successful completion of full trials. "By holding network-based, collaborative meetings that provide participants with a greater sense of being there in person, businesses will be able to take advantage of the AT&T network to receive an optimum collaborative experience. We look forward to continuing to work with Cisco to develop new, high-quality communications offerings for our enterprise customers," said Eric Shepcaro, senior vice president of business development for AT&T, in a Cisco release. Verizon Business said it would also soon begin technology testing and customer trials for the remote conferencing tool. "Based on the tests we have conducted with the new solution, we are excited about the potential that this new collaboration tool has in helping Yahoo communicate and collaborate more frequently and effectively with our key stakeholders," said Mercedes De Luca, vice president of global information technology infrastructure at Yahoo.

Chauffeured Car Company Offers Meetings RFP Tool
Carey International Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based chauffeured ground transportation company, last month said it has launched a new online request for proposal tool for meetings and events. The company is also offering a $1,500 rebate to buyers who use the company for pre-event site inspection tour services. Bruce Mainzer, senior vice president of marketing for Carey, said meeting buyers often consider ground transportation arrangements for their event an afterthought. "The idea is to get meeting planners to think about ground transportation first," Mainzer said. "There are ways that we can help, with our experience, to make the event more of a success." To help buyers to arrange transportation with enough lead time, the company has promoted use of the RFP process. "The tool is pretty standard in the hotel industry," Mainzer said. "It was something that we weren't doing a lot of and we know it's standard for meeting planners to have a quick and efficient way for submitting their requirements. The tool is aimed at large events, but can be used effectively for small meetings as well, he said.