Sabre's Virtually There now on BlackBerry wireless

TORONTO -- Sabre Holdings Corp. has announced that its Virtually There, a personalized travel Web site, is now available on BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds. This new service enables the fast-growing BlackBerry wireless user market to access and receive personal itineraries, weather and notification about flight changes or cancellations. This information is accessible when travellers book their trip through a Sabre connected travel agency, online booking site, or other participating travel supplier.

"The ability to stay connected to travel services is increasingly important as employees become more mobile," said Mark Guibert, vice president, Brand Management at Research In Motion, the Canadian company that developed the BlackBerry. "By combining BlackBerry with Sabre Virtually There, mobile professionals will enjoy convenient travel planning capabilities."

Some 12,000 organizations have installed the BlackBerry wireless e-mail solution, Sabre said. A Yankee Group report recently predicted that by 2003, approximately 50% of businesses will have implemented wireless data solutions.

Real-time information

"Sabre Virtually There and BlackBerry together bring a significant expansion of real-time information to travellers -- which is exactly what consumers are saying they need," said Tracy Cooper, vice president and general manager of the Canadian Division of Sabre. "Being able to provide this service to Blackberry users will also enhance travel agents' customer service efforts."

Last week, Research In Motion (RIM) and Informatica, a leading provider of enterprise analytic software, announced an agreement to integrate the Informatica Analytics Delivery Platform with RIM's BlackBerry wireless e-mail.

"Informatica's expertise in analytic software complements RIM's leadership in wireless communications for mobile professionals," RIM's Guibert said."By combining the Web-based Informatica Analytics Delivery Platform with RIM's BlackBerry solution, our customers will be able to make informed decisions through improved mobile access to enterprise applications."

The Informatica Analytics Delivery Platform enables customers to analyze enterprise data through an intuitive dashboard interface and secure, scalable, analytics server. The Informatica Analytics Delivery Platform is comprised of the Informatica Analytics Server, which includes a web-based dashboard and administrative console, and Informatica Mobile, a mobile dashboard delivery option for wireless and voice recognition interfaces.

Mobile employees

"With an increase in mobile employees, organizations require an easy-to-use, scalable and fully integrated platform that will allow their employees to remain productive and responsive when out of the office or away from their desks," said Girish Pancha, senior vice president and general manager, platform technologies at Informatica. "Together, RIM and Informatica will develop analytic applications for mobile professionals to receive alerts, indicators, reports and enterprise communication details, delivered to their BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds."

BlackBerry is considered to be a proven, secure and complete wireless e-mail solution that integrates the industry's most advanced wireless handhelds with enterprise server software, end-to-end encryption technology, desktop utilities and nationwide wireless networks. BlackBerry supports both Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino environments and incorporates a unique security architecture for encrypting all incoming and outgoing wireless e-mail using Triple DES (Data Encryption Standard). 

The Sabre office in Canada is a division of Sabre Inc. Headquartered in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, Sabre company has approximately 6,000 employees in 45 countries. Sabre maintains an ownership interest of approximately 70% in Travelocity.com, the largest online B2C travel site; and it owns GetThere, a provider of Web-based B2B travel reservation systems.