Datalex signs with Siemens Mobile Travel

DUBLIN -- Some ideas, like the seeds of some plants, take longer than expected to germinate. Two years ago, Mary O'Rourke, Ireland's Minister for Public Enterprise, became the world's first secure mobile commerce consumer when she purchased concert hall tickets and an airline ticket with a WAP-enabled phone.

Using encryption developed by Baltimore Technologies, and a booking engine by Datalex, Minister O'Rourke completed the wireless transactions at a meeting of 200 delegates from leading Irish mobile commerce companies. The mobile and travel industries took notice of the developments in Ireland, and in the following months there were a number of product announcements and launches. However, the promise held by that first mobile commerce demonstration in 1999 has been slow in meeting initial expectations.

But, in recent months there are signs that mobile travel commerce might indeed be the next big thing. This week, from its Dublin headquarters, Datalex announced the signing of a major contract with Siemens Mobile Travel Solutions. The deal calls for Datalex to provide its core integration platform, BookIt! Matrix, to drive the new Siemens Travel Angel.

Travel and mobile

The Travel Angel application, which is being marketed to travel related companies, mobile operators and large enterprises who require mobile capacity for their products and services, will initially provide flight schedule access, re-booking, flight destination weather information, airport information services and personal and corporate travel information for travelers.

"Siemens is one of the major forces in the global travel industry and this contract is of major significance in the distribution of mobile data services, an ever increasing consumer and corporate requirement in this competitive market," said Damian Hickey, SVP Commercial, Datalex.

"As a company that facilitated the first secure mobile travel reservation using WAP technology in 1999, Datalex is pleased to be working with other major technology suppliers such as Siemens in harnessing the potential of wireless as a distribution platform for travel products and services," Hickey said. "This platform is of critical importance in the development of our solutions strategy and Germany, as one of the world's major technology centres, offers enormous opportunities in this area, as does the global wireless market.''

Enormous market

According to Forrester Research, mobile phones have reached a mature penetration of approximately 70% in Europe. The flexible connectivity offered by the BookIt! MATRIX platform will enable Travel Angel to tap the potential of this enormous market by offering a diverse range of mobile travel service capabilities.

"With Datalex, we found the right partner with global presence, indepth travel industry know how and a link to the major GDS," said Reinhold Rehm, CEO Siemens Mobile Travel Solutions. "We look forward to a fruitful co-operation in several international projects." 

Datalex markets its BookIt! Matrix as a flexible, scalable integration solution that isolates client applications from back-end host connectivity issues, enabling travel suppliers and distributors to focus on e-Business and m-Business applications and interfaces. BookIt! Matrix is the core integration platform for the Datalex range of products and provides connectivity to a wide range of GDSs, CRSs, ferry and rail systems in addition to other hosts systems. 

Datalex is a leading provider of technology solutions for the global travel industry. Founded in 1985, the company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and maintains offices throughout the world: Europe (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Manchester); USA (Atlanta, Petaluma); and Asia-Pacific (Melbourne, Singapore).

Datalex's customers include Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Amadeus, American Airlines, American Express, AMTRAK, California State Automobile Association, Delta Air Lines, FAR&WIDE, Galileo, KLM, Lufthansa, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, SNCF, Thomas Cook, Trailfinders, Travelcare and Unisys. Datalex also is a strategic partner with FAR&WIDE and Worldspan. Datalex is a publicly held company traded on both the Irish Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.