<B> Tech Talk</B>
By Mary Ann McNulty, Technology Editor
<B>ITN Gets United Front...</B>
United Airlines has made a "significant investment" in Internet Travel Network, the independent software firm that developed the booking engine on United's Website and is working on Galileo International's corporate booking offering. "The timing of our interest was right because ITN was in the process of securing capital through a scheduled round of private financing," said David Coltman, United's senior vice president of marketing. ITN raised $10.7 million in two prior rounds of financing. United is the sole investor in the third round and took a minority equity stake.
"We want ITN to stay independent; ITN wants to stay independent and not be unduly influenced by a major stakeholder," said UAL spokesman Tony Molinaro in explaining the investment strategy. "United bought a minority interest just to make sure ITN grows and succeeds and also so we're connected to a cutting-edge company so what they develop can be used by United."
<a name="2"><B>...Cobrands Galileo Corporate Offering</B>
In a related development, Internet Travel Network and Galileo late last month finalized plans for the corporate booking product that the latter will market to large corporations under the name Corporate Travelpoint. The Web-based booking engine is available now for airlines or agencies to provide to corporate customers.
Besides cobranding ITN's Global Manager product, Galileo has given ITN access to a proprietary interface software technology known as structured data that will significantly speed and enhance fare, schedule and other data to users. Previously, criteria such as hotel proximity to airports, specific departure and arrival requirements and seat selection strained the booking engine, frequently slowing response time for users.
<a name="3"><B>Galileo Buys Canadian Arm</B>
Continuing the buyback trend begun after going public last July, Galileo International earlier this month acquired Galileo Canada Distribution Systems Inc. from Air Canada. Before taxes, the airline will receive $34.3 million Canadian or about $23.5 million U.S.
Air Canada continues to hold less than 1 percent of the Galileo parent after selling its share of Apollo last July. After raising more than $900 million by selling 35.1 percent of its stock on Wall Street, Galileo spent more than $700 million buying back the Apollo distribution company from United, US Airways and Air Canada, Galileo Nederland and Traviswiss. Galileo Canada distributes the Apollo global distribution system to more than 3,000 travel agency locations, with 11,000 terminals, across Canada.
<a name="4"><B>Xtra On-Line Debuts PowerTrip</B>
Xtra On-Line next month plans to release its online booking tool called PowerTrip to be sold to corporations through agencies. Agencies will pay a one-time license fee and then charge corporate clients a monthly fee, determined by the number of employees accessing the Website, said Bill Malone, vice president of sales for the Dallas-based company. Besides booking, PowerTrip offers a policy compliance module, incorporates Quicken's ExpensAble expense management software and interfaces with Excel or other proprietary expense programs, and offers a reporting module called Decision Reporter to access booked and post-trip data. XOL also plans to integrate its offering with other corporate systems, such as human resources and general ledger, to make it a true end-to-end system, said Mark McCulloch, vice president of product and business development.