First Anniversary of Travelport Developer Network: Program Provides Commercial and Support Framework to Engage Third Party Developers

According to Phil Donathy, product director, Travelport, “Travelport is adapting to the way the travel world wants to evolve – selling the way travel providers want to sell and agents want to buy. At the same time, travelers are using new technologies and platforms (smartphones, tablets, cloud, etc.) to do business. Our objective is to provide flexible access to content and services through an open platform, creating a multi-channel experience so services can be delivered on multiple devices and platforms. Today, Travelport has an expansive global reach – connecting hundreds of airlines, hundreds of thousands of hotels and numerous other travel providers with tens of thousands of agencies worldwide. We encourage the developer community to develop and innovate on the Travelport Universal API™ platform through the use of apps or otherwise enabling our core technology and data assets to be re-used in innovative ways to meet the needs of multiple niches. Harnessing the creativity of the world’s innovators is a win-win scenario for all of us.”

Select milestones of the one-year anniversary include:

• November 2011 – 2012 —
  • Sharp membership growth: over 60 independent software developers globally representing a 300% growth rate
  • Fully launched in 88 countries with plans set in place for continued growth in 2013
  • Successful monthly events program of webinars and workshops for Developer Network partners;
• November 2012 — Fluential and Travelport to present natural speech technology for mobile travel apps at 2012 PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit in Scottsdale, AZ in the “Established Companies Category.” To be presented 5:32 – 5:44 p.m., Tuesday, November 13th: http://phocuswrightconference.com/innovator-2012-fluential
• November 2012 — Also at PhoCusWright 2012:
  • FlexTrip announces activities and tours application for Travelport Universal Desktop™ and link on Travelport Rooms and More
  • AdventureLink announces partnership, links via Travelport Universal API™ and Travelport Rooms and More
  • Cabforce announces partnership; development of taxi reservations application for Travelport Universal Desktop;
• October 2012 — Webinar produced by Tnooz and Travelport takes in-depth look at travel technology ecosystem and how to make open travel tech ecosystems work to your advantage. Travelport Developer Network members CarPilots and Travel Technology Solutions participate;
• October 2012 —  Over 30 developers and executives from across the Middle East and Africa gathered in Dubai for regional launch of Travelport Universal API and Developer Network;
• October 2012 — Launch of Travelport Booking Feed provides access to an additional product for  Developer Network members;
• August 2012 — Travelport Developer Network launches in Latin America with a developer network workshop held for nearly 50 developers in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Technology experts and Travelport clients traveled from areas as far as Mexico and Spain to attend the half-day interactive session. Attendees had an opportunity to connect with technology experts from Travelport and talk about how to take advantage of the content and capabilities the new innovative Travelport Universal API tool offers;
• July 2012 — Launch of Travelport Mobile Agent™, a mobile app which enables Travelport-connected agencies to gain full access to the Galileo Desktop™ directly on their mobile device. Developed by Travel Technology & Solutions (TTS), the product was one of the first products to be made available globally as a result of the Travelport Developer Network. More than 7,000 downloads to date.  http://travelport.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=816
• July 2012 — Partnership with Fluential, Developer Network member, to develop mobile voice recognition application powered by natural language semantic search, dialog understanding and voice-recognition technology. Travel content, shopping and booking capabilities provided via Travelport Universal API – the first global GDS API that aggregates GDS air, car and hotel content together with low cost carrier, high speed rail, merchandising and non-GDS hotel content;
• June 2012 — Pacific launch of Travelport Developer Network with a series of workshops held in Australia and New Zealand for over 50 developers, technology experts and Travelport clients;
• March 2012 — Travelport and our Distributor partner CEE Travel Systems hosted in Prague a regional launch of Travelport Developer Network with an event for over 30 developers and executives from the industry. CEE Travel Systems represents Travelport in 10 countries within the region and was the first distributor partner for the network;
• January 2012 —  Launch of Travelport ViewTrip™ Mobile in UK and Ireland, in partnership with Developer Network member Manticpoint, commences global rollout in 2012;
• November 2011 — Travelport announces launch of Travelport Developer Network with 20 independent software developer members.

  Christopher Zando, vice president, Partnerships and Alliances, Travelport, said “Looking back over the last year, the Travelport Developer Network team has worked hard to grow the commercial and support framework necessary to seriously engage third party developers. Travelport’s steady stream of engagement with independent software developers worldwide underscores our commitment to work hand in hand with the developer community to partner on innovative solutions to offer the very best possible applications to our travel agency customers worldwide. The Travelport Developer Network is the perfect complement to our global product strategy and takes full advantage of the leading technology we have developed such as the Travelport Universal API and the Travelport Universal Desktop™.  By working more closely with talented developers and enhancing our already strong relationships, we can offer the most innovative applications.

Travelport at PhoCusWright 2012:

Visit the Travelport Stand at PhoCusWright, Nov. 13-15, to learn more about Travelport’s Open Platform strategy and how the Travelport Developer Network and Universal API are building uniquely productive relationships that lead to groundbreaking solutions.

Fluential and Travelport present at the Innovation Summit, Nov. 13th, Tuesday, 5:32 – 5:44 p.m.

Demonstration Pods will feature:

• Travelport Universal API: content and applications showcase
• Developer Network: Spotlight on some of our Developer network members and their innovations
• Travelport Booking Feed the latest in our Developer Tools portfolio

About Travelport Developer Network:
Travelport’s Developer Network provides third party developer members with full access to key software resources, dedicated help and support, and an entry in the Travelport Developer Directory. Created to facilitate the faster introduction of innovative new applications to its 67,000 travel agency customers worldwide, the dedicated developer program offers extensive commercial, technical and support benefits to approved developer members.

• As part of the program, Travelport’s industry-leading developer tools are built on open standards technology, so developers can program in the environment of their choice and build applications that easily integrate with existing Travelport databases and technologies.
• Membership includes access to the Travelport Universal API providing access to extensive content and functionality through a single API connection.
•  Members also have access to the Universal Desktop Software Development Kit (SDK) which creates a wealth of new opportunities for developers. The extensive configurability can be further enhanced to meet agency needs with custom activities incorporated into workflows, shopping and booking from blended GDS and non-GDS content, and custom pop-up widgets with anytime access.
• Access to Travelport Booking Feed
• Dedicated Support in partnership with technology- commercial account manager and partner technical specialists

For more information or to access the Travelport Developer Network website, visit: http://developer.travelport.com/

About Travelport (www.travelport.com)
Travelport is a broad-based business services company and a leading provider of critical transaction processing solutions to companies operating in the global travel industry.

With a presence in over 170 countries, approximately 3,500 employees and 2011 net revenue of $2.0 billion, Travelport is comprised of the global distribution systems (GDS) business, which includes the Galileo and Worldspan brands and its Airline IT Solutions business.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Travelport is a privately owned company.
Follow Travelport on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Travelport

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Media Contact:

Kate Aldridge, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, EMEA and APAC

Tel: +44 (0) 1753 288720

Email: kate.aldridge@travelport.com

Jill Brenner

Senior Director, Corporate Communications, The Americas

E: jill.brenner@travelport.com

P: +1 973 939 1325

[1] For more information or to access the Travelport Developer Network website, visit: http://developer.travelport.com/