Sabre has reached an agreement with technology provider Ramesys to give Sabre Connected travel agents access to Viewdata and other tour-related products and services through the SABS tour booking system.
(Caption: Dan Van Winkle
, director of marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa - Sabre)
The agreement gives Sabre
customers undisclosed preferential rates for SABS while allowing them to use the Internet Service Provider (ISP) of their choice.

SABS is an Internet-based solution for travel agencies that are moving away from traditional X.25 data line connections. The SABS system gives agents access to Viewdata and to a wide range of tour data, search and booking facilities. Sabre?fs other link to Viewdata, SabreText, is not Internet enabled and will be phased out once most customers have migrated to Internet-based communication links.

Dan Van Winkle
, Sabre?fs director of marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said it was important that Sabre should offer an Internet-enabled alternative to SabreText.

“Sabre?fs ongoing mission is to provide its customers with the tools they need to best serve their clients. Combine this with the fact that the tour and leisure travel sector is becoming increasingly important to our customers, and the logic for our agreement with Ramesys speaks for itself.?h
Van Winkle said Sabre?fs agreement with Ramesys
would help Sabre Connected travel agencies preserve their technological independence.

“One of the key benefits of Ramesys versus some of the other technology providers in its field is that most dictate what network provider an agency has to use.  The Ramesys solution is network independent and therefore allows Sabre Connected agencies to access Viewdata with the same ISP as all their other content?h, he said.

Related stories on ITN:

(28/08/2002) Oden Resor switches to Sabre

(26/08/2002) SolarNet and Sabre sign product distribution Agreement

(21/08/2002) Sabre & TRAMS Deliver CRM Tool to Travel Agents

——-