Fort Worth, Texas - Sabre holdings have announced that it will transfer it`s database of airfares, flight schedules and travel information to a new computer server platform made by Compaq Computer.
Compaq, which is based in Houston, can expect to receive payment of $1oo million over a three year period from Fort Worth travel technology company to move its travel shopping systems to 192 Compaq Himalaya servers.
Sabre`s chief technology officer, Craig Murphey, believes that this will result in easier travel shopping for consumers. As of January the travel shopping system, including airfare searches, travel rules, schedules and availability information,will be transferred to the open Compaq platform.
He goes on to suggest that the deal should give Sabre the ability to have better marked responsiveness and reduce costs, although the exact saving has not been disclosed.
Sabre`s database currently runs on 30 mainframe computers that link more than 210,000 terminals. It processes more than 400 million reservations annually, amounting to nearly 40% of all travel reservations. Sabre has estimated that 59, 000 travel agents use the travel shopping system. The new platform should serve to offer more accurate and up-to-the-minute travel information. As new, faster systems become available, Compaq will continue to update Sabre`s system.
The new system will be run by Plano-based Electronic Data Systems, which bought Sabre`s information technology services in July. Sabre will however continue to own the intellectual property and hardware for the system.
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