Trisept Solutions, a travel technology company owned by the Mark Travel Corp.`s Bill La Macchia and his family, bought the technology of eGulliver, the travel agent lead-generation service that went out of business a year ago.

Trisept plans to offer services based on eGulliver technology to its clients and other travel companies, including travel agency franchise companies, consortia and others that want to add a “find-a-travel agent” locator to their Web sites.

“We`re using the assets of eGulliver in a little bit of a different way than was envisioned by the old eGulliver,” said John Ische, Trisept president.

“The eGulliver technology had functionality beyond the travel agent locators on the market. For example, you could view a resume of the travel agent to see if the agent fits the profile of the consumer`s needs. “It`s more robust than just typing the ZIP code and finding agencies in your area,” he added.

Ische said Trisept “quietly” purchased the eGulliver software in November and did not make an announcement “because we`ve been working to upgrade the technology and make it available as a private-label service” for Trisept`s clients and others before going public with it.

Trisept did not release the sale price. He said Trisept already started talks with agencies, consortia and clients to incorporate the eGulliver technology on their Web sites.

 

Trisept, a technology division of the Mark Travel Corp. that was spun off into a separate company in August 2000, manages e-commerce and Web technology for 30 travel industry companies with combined online package sales of 2.2 million bookings a year and more than $2 billion in revenue.

Ische said there could be some integration between the VAX agents and the former eGulliver technology if used by Trisept`s clients, but it is too soon to say how that would be accomplished. “We have a bundle of technology that creates business-process efficiencies for our clients and agency consortia,” he said.

EGulliver generated plenty of industry buzz in the height of the dot-com boom with its concept of an online lead-generation service that connected consumers to traditional bricks-and-mortar travel agents.

 

The Atlanta-based company had equity investors that included Expedia and was endorsed by ASTA. But it was forced to shut down when it became strapped for cash and a strategic investor and large agency group did not come through with expected financial support, Deslie Webb, the company`s co-founder and a former Carlson Wagonlit executive, said at the time.

 

Some 1,800 travel agents had joined eGulliver, and the service was within weeks of linking itself on line with Expedia when the plug was pulled.

 

 

 

 

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