IJet purchased Prescient Traveler
technology from the broader compliance and risk mitigation firm Prescient. While
iJet has specialized in early notice/advance warning of potential risk and
disruptions for travelers, Prescient Traveler provides near real-time
information to travelers as incidents occur, iJet president Bruce McIndoe told
BTN.
Prescient Traveler monitors social
media and alerts from local governments and private sources, covering 600
cities. It combines that with its geospatial intelligence to notify travelers
as incidents occur nearby or as travelers approach areas where incidents have
occurred. McIndoe called the mobile device technology "location aware"
to differentiate from traveler tracking. Rather than reporting a traveler's
whereabouts back to a central system, he said, the phone itself knows where a
traveler is and triggers relevant notifications, he said. Each user can
register as many as 10 cities to monitor.
The acquisition closed on Tuesday, and iJet
will integrate Prescient Traveler's incident reporting technology into iJet's
Worlcue platform rapidly, McIndoe said. Assimilating the geospatial capability
into the Worldcue app will take longer, four to six months.
Prescient is based in Chicago, and
eight staffers will relocate to iJet's Chicago office.
McIndoe
told BTN iJet looked at about five similar products before buying the Prescient
Traveler technology. He also said iJet continues to look for acquisition
targets in data analytics, risk management technologies and geographies that
can fill out its network, as well as those that would bring a significant book
of business.