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Pleite bzw. kurz davor(60%) oder übernommen (40%). Übernahmepreis würde ich auf 4-5 Euro schätzen. Gegen eine Übernahme spricht die Tatsache, dass es ein deutsches Unternehmen ist und die Global Player, die für eine Übernahme in Frage kommen in den USA sitzen. Dafür spricht die Konsolidierung, die in der Branche einsetzt. Fakt ist: i:FAO hat alleine in dem Markt keine Chance und je mehr GDS Anbieter in den Markt der "selfbooking" Systeme einsteigen, um so schwieriger wird es für Sie neue große Kunden zu finden. Ein GDS Anbieter hat einfach einen besseren Platz in der Wertschöpfungskette. Der zweite Grund sind hausgemachte Probleme. Ein Benutzermarketing für cytric ist nicht vorhanden und dies, obwohl der Umsatz auf die Anzahl der Buchungen umgestellt worden ist. Im Zusammenhang mit der Konsolidierung in der Branche folgende zwei Artikel von eyefortravel. Quelle: http://www.eyefortravel.com/index.asp?news=18947 Corporate Consolidations In Online Travel. There were some surprising acquisition announcements at the National Business Travel Association convention in Atlanta yesterday. Two GDS` are enhancing their corporate capabilities, while new solutions have been introduced for online business travel management. (7/31/2001) Amadeus announced the acquisition of e-Travel, Inc., a leading U.S. supplier of hosted corporate travel technology solutions, from Oracle Corporation. e-Travel, whose roster of blue chip customers includes Ingersoll Rand Company, Oracle Corporation, Philip Morris Companies Inc., and Vivendi Universal, is based near Boston, Massachusetts. Customers of e-Travel`s corporate self-booking services enjoy the industry`s highest utilisation rates, as high as 98%, enabling these corporations to rapidly realise significant travel management cost savings. Under the agreement, e-Travel becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amadeus Global Travel Distribution SA, and Scott Gutz retains his role as e-Travel`s CEO. e-Travel product development and marketing will continue at its Waltham, Massachusetts headquarters, coordinating with Amadeus` development team in Nice, France, and marketing team in Madrid, Spain. "This acquisition leaves Amadeus with a larger global footprint than any competing corporate travel management provider," said David V. Jones, Executive Vice President, Commercial, at Amadeus. "It allows us to offer e-Travel products in addition to Amadeus Corporate Traveller and our travel management applications for Lotus and SAP corporate users. This new range of solutions is the only one in the industry directed at specific, individual corporate requirements, rather than attempting to make one size fit for all. Additionally, it will benefit from Amadeus support and service capabilities in almost 200 markets." With the acquisition of e-Travel, Amadeus gains a proven multi-GDS corporate travel solution with a significant share in the key North American market. e-Travel, in turn, expands its global presence and capabilities through its relationship with a parent company that is an established leader in travel technology and distribution that also has strong relationships with travel agency partners. "With Amadeus behind us, e-Travel will continue to prosper and we will be able to more quickly expand our reach while leveraging significant technology and expertise," said Gutz. Amadeus plans to capitalise on the fact that e-Travel`s services work with any of the GDSs. It will be actively partnering with key travel agency chains in the U.S. to re-sell e-Travel`s Enterprise Travel Management (ETM) online suite of services to corporations. This will represent a new source of revenue for Amadeus and expanded distribution channels for e-Travel. "e-Travel has a solid business model, a well-established brand and high adoption rates by users in corporations that will produce considerable synergies with our existing offerings and corporate strategy," said Jones. "e-Travel will thrive as part of Amadeus and contribute toward our overall corporate objectives." Meanwhile, Galileo Intenational has been a strategic partner and investor in Highwire since it`s founding in 1999; now they are to buy the developer of corporate Internet travel tools and technology. This acquisition will expand Galileos` portfolio of corporate travel management solutions to include Highwire`s Travelport. The companies believe this move gives customers freedom of choice when selecting a corporate online booking tool. The acquisition also allows the companies to leverage their technology synergies. Travelport is a suite of Web-based travel products and services that provides a platform for self-service reservations, which empowers the traveller, maximises the benefits of corporate policy compliance, and provides a delivery mechanism for value-added content to a target audience in real time. Key product features include: Flexible User Interface -- Comprehensive travel planning and booking with a unique graphical interface for ease of use. Trip templates and agency communication tools support the travel planning/booking, based on a "self-service when you want it, full-service when you need it" model. Designed for Integration -- Integrates into existing travel agency systems and corporate environments. Works against currently deployed Galileo operating systems, external profile corporate or travel agency data sources, and for large accounts, offers seamless access from corporate internets (single sign-on). Minimises changes to existing business process, improves the often `uncaptured` costs associated with deploying online reservation tools. Robust Administrative Tools -- Gives corporations and travel agencies ultimate control. Offers robust administrative tools allowing travel agencies to post content and easily deploy multiple Web sites, and sets most finishing requirements to agency specifications. Galileo`s portfolio of corporate travel management solutions also includes Corporate Travelpoint 2.0. In a related announcement, Galileo named its launch customers for the product. Together, Travelport and Corporate Travelpoint 2.0 effectively serve customers across a variety of market segments, each with specific features and functions that give Galileo clients the most comprehensive set of online booking solutions from which to choose. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Galileo is to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Cendant Corporation. Corporate-side provider of business travel eProcurement software i:FAO, has introduced a new interface for cytric, the Internet software for booking and management of business travel. Called reality, it is described as the "intelligent" interface and is fast, user friendly and easily understood. It does what other interfaces cannot do by swiftly presenting the optimal travel solution, effectively replacing the typical dialogue with a travel agent that involves a lengthy back and forth to meet travel, personal and corporate criteria. reality does away with tedious form-filling, taking the weighted information generated from a corporate profile (addressing the needs of the corporate travel policy), from a user profile (with personal preferences) and the many criteria for a booking (such as departure time, arrival time, connection cities, travel time, airline preferences, price, and so forth). The offers are presented in a user-friendly format, ranking optimal solutions against several constraints. The core technology is capable of computing an extensive amount of information in a very short timeframe, permitting the user to receive within seconds hundreds of possible solutions graded by their optimisation against certain constraints. The revolutionary technology was originally developed at Iconomic Systems SA, which was acquired by i:FAO earlier this year and will soon be renamed i:FAO Switzerland SA. reality will be rolled out within cytric in Q3 2001, with additional features, like car and hotel to come in Q4 2001. The new interface will be integrated in cytric as one of up to eight different ways to complete a corporate travel reservation. i:FAO does not anticipate that reality will be charged separately at this time. Last but not least, as reported yesterday, Navigant International and Sabre`s GetThere are creating an online travel reservation system to allow Navigant to quickly and easily create customised, private online travel programmes for its corporate clients. Using GetThere DirectMidMarket with SuperSite technology, Navigant will maintain a master booking site that can be easily replicated and customised for the thousands of corporate clients that use Navigant`s travel services. The system maintains connections to Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan, and can be configured with each corporate customer`s specific policies and negotiated rates. The technology provides many of the same benefits as the industry-leading GetThere DirectCorporate for large corporations, but is designed to address only the needs specific to small and medium-sized companies, which comprise Navigant`s core business. According to Jupiter Media Metrix, Inc. the market for online corporate travel solutions has been booming in the U.S., with current estimates that $6.1 billion of air, car and hotel bookings, representing 8% of all managed bookings, will be executed through an online corporate booking solution in 2001. Jupiter also estimates that corporate cost savings will drive more than $30.6 billion in corporate managed online bookings in 2006. Zweiter Artikel Quelle: http://www.eyefortravel.com/index.asp?news=19219 If I were Paul Blackney… A commentary on the consolidation in the online corporate managed travel space by Max Starkov (8/7/2001) By Max Starkov On July 30th Amadeus announced the acquisition of e-Travel, Inc., a leading supplier of corporate travel technology solutions, from Oracle Corporation. The same day Galileo International, Inc. (NYSE: GLC) announced it had agreed to acquire Highwire, Inc., a start-up developer of corporate Internet travel tools and technology. The timing of these announcements, both at the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) convention in Atlanta, was not coincidental and aimed to achieve maximum publicity and send a strong message. These acquisitions follow Sabre`s $757 million purchase of GetThere, Inc. back in 2000 and reflect the growing importance of online self-booking corporate travel solutions. Worldspan now remains the only Global Distribution System (GDS) that hasn`t acquired a major technology player in this space. If I were Paul Blackney, Worldspan`s President and CEO, I would consider the only viable option today, which is the acquisition of a corporate managed travel technology provider with the most promising technology for the long term. Here is why. The economic downturn is forcing corporations to better control T&E expenses and to mandate self-booking systems. Business travel ranks among the top three corporate expenses. Booking travel in a self-serve mode trims down travel management fees and leads to significant savings. This year more than ever corporations are introducing stricter travel policies and require employees to use the corporate self-booking system. According to a recent survey by GetThere, Inc., 27% of their clients already use a mandate and 45% plan to have one in place this year. Jupiter Media Metrix expects $6.1 billion of online corporate travel bookings in 2001. Corporations see the benefits of online booking. Their efforts to cut costs will drive more than $30.6 billion in corporate managed travel online bookings in 2006 (Jupiter). Gateway Inc. achieved a remarkable 98% usage of their Intranet-based self-booking engine, provided by e-Travel (acquired by Amadeus). Honeywell managed a 72% adoption rate of their GetThere (Sabre) system within 8 months and saved millions of U.S. dollars in fees and lower Web-only fares. Seattle-based Highwire Inc. (acquired by Galileo), a rising star in the corporate self-booking systems, this year inked deals with some of the largest business travel accounts in the country, Microsoft and Deloite & Touche. What is Worldspan to do in this situation? Here are several things the company must consider: First, Worldspan already has an online booking product, the TripManager, which has more than 1,000 corporate licensees. The company just unveiled an enhanced version of the TripManager that promises a complete booking (air, car, hotel) in less than four minutes and has, among a number of improvements, a new graphical user interface designed for simplicity and efficiency. It is expected to significantly bolster adoption rates for corporate users. Second, Worldspan, like the other GDSs, has a confused perception of its core competency. Is it a technology company? Is it a marketing company? Or is it a combination of the two? Historically, the GDSs have never had clarity on the subject. Defining a company`s core competency is extremely important for making sound strategic decisions that will impact its long-term survivability. Worldspan has three business lines: travel supplier services, e-commerce and travel distribution. While in the mainframe computer world Worldspan may still be considered a technology company, I believe that Worldspan`s core competency in today`s Web-enabled world is the marketing of travel inventory reservation services and solutions. Hence the need to acquire a true cutting-edge technology leader in this space becomes more evident. Didn`t Sabre have the same dilemma? Last year Sabre acquired GetThere, Inc. and then practically abandoned its own online booking product (BTS), which gave us some food for thought, indeed. Third, there are not that many online corporate booking technology providers left out there. Worldspan already has partnerships with or holds equity stakes in some of them. Datalex, TRX and XOL, whose XML-enabled middleware platforms promise the next-generation of self-booking technology, and Frankfurt-based I:FAO are worth mentioning. * Datalex, Inc., a public company (Nasdaq: DLEX; ISE: DLE), based in Dublin, Ireland. Headcount: 470. Worldspan is an equity investor in Datalex and has a five-year strategic alliance with this company aimed to strengthen and promote each other`s products and services as preferred solutions, and also for joint developments. Datalex is a leading provider of eBusiness infrastructure and solutions for the global airline and travel industry. Its proprietary technologies include the BookIt! Suite of Internet booking tools, BookSmart middleware booking technology and the ARIVA CRM suite. Datalex` entry into the online corporate managed travel market came only recently with the acquisition of a 50% stake in Yatra Corporation. The Yatra online booking technology recently attracted its first significant corporate client, Siemens-Canada. Of particular interest is Datalex` group inventory management software for air and tour sectors, and its new BookIt! MATRIX, a powerful, extensible and scalable middleware technology that provides connectivity between back-end host and front-end client applications as well as legacy system connectivity. * TRX, Inc., a privately held company in Atlanta. Headcount:1,000. Worldspan has had an ongoing client-vendor relationship with TRX for several years now. TRX`s online booking tool, ResAssist is compatible with all four GDSs and is used by hundreds of corporate customers. Recently TQ3 Maritz Travel signed a deal to distribute ResAssist to its clients. TRX has a robust suite of proprietary technologies, offering all essential transaction processing functions for major travel suppliers and online travel services (CoRRe, EnCoRRe, Navigator, Message Partner, etc). Last year for example TRX provided automated transaction support for 7 million corporate travel transactions and fulfilled one out of every four leisure tickets purchased online. TRX`s new XML Distribution System (XDS) coming later this year promises an integrated booking system utilizing multiple inventory feeds: GDSs, travel websites, direct interface to suppliers` CRS and other reservation providers. * XTRA On-Line (XOL), a privately held company, based in Dallas. Headcount: 20. Worldspan owns 25% equity stake in XOL and a seat on the company`s Board. At one point Paul Blackney served as company`s Chairman. Recently XOL sold its main corporate booking product, the PowerTrip, and its Dallas Operations Center, to Frankfurt-based I:FAO, to focus on new technologies. One of them, MyTrip travel planning engine generates highly personalized travel itineraries, directly from personal information management calendars, such as Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes. The other one, XML/TS, a next-generation XML-based middleware that enables the integration of multiple systems and data exchange, deserves attention. * I:FAO AG, a publicly listed company (Neuer Markt, Frankfurt Stock Exchange). Headcount: 165. i:FAO already dominates the corporate-side travel procurement market in Europe with cytric, the market leading Internet software for booking and management of business travel. More than 650 companies use the citric travel management system. It is available in 14 languages, uses all currencies and interfaces with all major GDSs. The acquisition of XOL`s PowerTrip corporate booking product was meant to boost significantly the market position of I:FAO North America. Another product is quixdata, which allows customers to consolidate all travel information on their business travel activities in one database. Actually, Worldspan has only two options: a) do nothing and continue pushing its TripManager product, trying to compete both as a technology provider and a marketer, and b) do an in-depth analysis of the online corporate managed travel space and acquire a technology player with the broadest portfolio of solutions and the most promising technology platform. If I were Paul Blackney, I would know what to do. Max Starkov is Chief eBusiness Strategist, Point Blank Interactive in New York City and advises companies in the Travel and Hospitality verticals. Mr. Starkov has an extensive eBusiness experience. He co-founded and served as CEO and Director of two eBusiness companies: Whale Media, Inc. (B2B travel technology infrastructure provider to the hospitality, corporate travel and convention and meetings markets) and Travelbreak.com, Inc. (B2C online travel marketplace). Under his leadership Whale Media won the prestigious 2001 Microsoft RAD Award for its ASP technology for the hospitality industry. Max has 17 years experience in pioneering and building successful travel businesses and eBusiness strategies for national and multinational leisure and hospitality companies. He has written numerous reports, industry research, and articles including: "If I were Barry Diller" (commentary on USA Networks` acquisition of Expedia), "Independent Hoteliers: eBusiness Levels the Playing Field"(co-author with Jason Price ), "If I were a Partner at Crosspoint Ventures" (investment opportunities in the travel industry), "If I were Henry R. Silverman" (commentary on the Cendant-Galileo deal), "Twelve Inexpensive Ways to Promote your Website". "Independent Hoteliers: How to Level the Playing Field Amidst Softened Economy"(co-author with Jason Price). Max has an MBA degree, Beta Gamma Sigma Honors, from Fordham University in New York and an MS in Economics degree. You can contact Max at maxstarkov@yahoo.com. |
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| aus der Diskussion: | I:FAO (622452) - CHARTTECHNISCHER AUSBRUCH |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | Haubi (13.08.01 17:16:54) |
| Beitrag: | 44 von 61 (ID:4191061) |
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