Sabre Holdings Corporation yesterday announced the availability of its new XML (eXtensible Markup Language) tool kit, a product to enable flexible design and a scalable interface for travel agency Web sites and online travel sites to utilize the extensive content of the Sabre global distribution system (GDS).

“In order to further eCommerce in travel, Sabre has created a standard solution for Web sites and client-server applications to communicate with our system by using a common language and structured data,” said Thaddeus Arroyo, senior vice president of product marketing and development for Sabre. “As a leader in technology and marketing services for the travel industry, this is just the first phase of Sabre’s very aggressive roadmap to deliver the industry’s most robust XML offering.”

Sabre offers its XML tool kit as part of the Sabre Do-it-yourself tools portfolio, a set of components that enables developers to create customized applications according to their companies’ unique business needs. XML furnishes Sabre customers with an environment to easily create high-volume Web booking engines and client-server applications.

“The XML tool kit allows us the flexibility and control to format Sabre content and customize applications in a way that best suits our needs,” said Paul Craft, vice president of R&D e-commerce of McCord Travel. “It also helps to achieve our larger goal of increasing speed and efficiency in providing information to our clients. Any tool that assists in this goal adds increased value to our relationship with Sabre.” The Do-it-yourself tools suite is a component of Sabre eVoya eStorefront, which provides the technologies needed to leverage the power of the Sabre system with the opportunities of the Internet to create and grow a Web presence. Sabre eVoya provides agencies with value-added solutions to compete in online travel, better serve clients, more effectively manage an agency and create new distribution and revenue opportunities through the Internet.

XML is a standard approach for describing, capturing, processing and publishing information. Rather than being a software programme, XML is a framework in which customers can communicate using a common language. Web developers can use XML to define data and place it in a structured format, which makes searching for information faster and easier. The XML tool kit also includes Sabre Data Source (SDS), a data protocol that provides Sabre responses in a structured message format, allowing for easy XML translation onto a Sabre Connected(SM) travel agency screen or Web site. SDS eliminates all screen formatting, which most Sabre users are accustomed to seeing. With this combination of SDS and XML, Web developers will be able to create their applications faster and with much more flexibility.

In addition to the XML tool kit, Sabre is introducing two new development tools that utilize Application Programming Interface (API) technology. eStorefront Sabre API (eSAPI) and C Common Sabre API (CCSAPI) are also part of the Do-it-yourself suite of development tools—all designed to satisfy various levels of technical expertise.

The two new API access products, eSAPI and CCSAPI, enable customized applications and provide enhanced communications with the Sabre GDS. eSAPI is a user-friendly product that provides a flexible design environment and connectivity to the Sabre system.

Users of eSAPI do not need the technical knowledge that is generally required for standard APIs.

CCSAPI is Sabre’s new Web version of the basic CSAPI tool. This new low-cost tool enables easier Web development and communication with the Sabre GDS and is targeted to technically savvy Web site developers.

“Access to time-critical airline data is essential to our same-day delivery service,” said Paul Orsak, chief technology officer for NextJet, an e-commerce solution provider for the door-to-door delivery market.

“Sabre’s superior Web API products rapidly deliver this important data. We have been exceptionally pleased with the performance and implementation of the APIs.” 

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