CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, EDS, AMADEUS FINALIZE AGREEMENT; MAJOR IMPACT EXPECTED ON TRAVEL INDUSTRY.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 1995-- o AMADEUS Global Travel Distribution SA, the computer reservation system (CRS CRS Course CRS Certified Residential Specialist (real estate certification) CRS Central Reservation System CRS Can't Remember Stuff (polite form) CRS Cost Reduction Strategy CRS Consumer Relations Specialist ) holding more than 50 percent of the travel agency marketshare in Europe and South America South America, fourth largest continent (1991 est. pop. 299,150,000), c.6,880,000 sq mi (17,819,000 sq km), the southern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , has acquired from Continental Airlines CRS assets of its System One Information Management subsidiary. Continental Airlines will receive 12.4 percent of the AMADEUS equity and an undisclosed amount of cash, as well as board representation on AMADEUS. o System One's travel agent customer base, its information management software, and other assets other assets Assets of relatively small value. For financial reporting purposes, firms frequently combine small assets into a single category rather than listing each item separately. and liabilities have been transferred into a newly formed company named System One Information Management, L.L.C., which is owned equally by EDS (Electronic Data Systems, Plano, TX, www.eds.com) Founded in 1962 by H. Ross Perot (independent candidate for the President of the U.S. in 1992), EDS is the largest outsourcing and data processing services organization in the country. , AMADEUS and Continental. The new System One will operate as an AMADEUS National Marketing Company (NMC NMC Nursing & Midwifery Council (UK) NMC NSSDC Master Catalog (NASA) NMC Northwestern Michigan College (Traverse City, Michigan) NMC National Meteorological Center ) providing information management, marketing, distribution and customer support services support services Psychology Non-health care-related ancillary services–eg, transportation, financial aid, support groups, homemaker services, respite services, and other services to travel agencies in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Mexico, Canada, Central America Central America, narrow, southernmost region (c.202,200 sq mi/523,698 sq km) of North America, linked to South America at Colombia. It separates the Caribbean from the Pacific. and the Caribbean. o The combined technological resources of EDS (Electronic Data Systems, Corp.), AMADEUS and System One result in economic benefits, a huge integrated travel information database, and the development of advanced and customized software See custom software. for agency and business use. The potential of this joint enterprise is tremendous," said Jose Antonio Tazon, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of AMADEUS Global Travel Distribution. "It comes at a time when the industry is at the threshold At the Threshold, whose son Lil E. Tee won the 1992 Kentucky Derby for W. Cal Partee, died March 23 of a stroke at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine in West Lafayette, Ind. The 21-year-old stallion stood at Wayne Houston's Stoney Creek Horse Farm near Mooreland, Ind. of a new technological revolution; travel agencies are challenged to prove themselves as being indispensable business partners; consumers are considering alternate ways of planning and purchasing travel; and corporations want to know if their travel and entertainment expenditures are producing a productivity return." "By marrying the strengths of EDS, AMADEUS and System One, we will be able to respond to and anticipate all of our customer's needs more quickly, completely and cost-effectively," said Bill Diffenderffer, the CEO and President of the System One AMADEUS NMC. More than 700 airlines, 29,000 hotel properties, 41 car companies and other travel providers now contracting with System One and AMADEUS will be available over a single network to 33,000 travel agencies worldwide, the largest distribution system in the industry. System One CRS transitions to AMADEUS Under the first part of the agreement, AMADEUS acquires the System One CRS. Travel agencies using the System One CRS will be gradually transitioned over the next two years to the AMADEUS system. This process will be intuitive for System One users as AMADEUS and System One functionality and system language are related. AMADEUS was originally based on System One software in 1987. Interconnectivity between the two systems will be offered to customers immediately and, thanks to the wide reach of AMADEUS, multinational travel agency chains can therefore offer global corporations and traveling customers seamless service worldwide. Continental Airlines becomes the fourth owner of AMADEUS Global Travel Distribution SA. Air France Air France in full Compagnie Internationale Air France French passenger and cargo airline with more than 200 destinations in some 80 countries. It introduced supersonic Concorde service in 1976, but financial loss led the company to cease its Concorde , Iberia Airlines Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A., (IBEX-35:IBLA) (Iberia Airlines of Spain in English), usually shortened to Iberia, is the largest airline of Spain, based in Madrid and is the Spanish flag carrier. It operates an extensive international network of services. of Spain and Lufthansa German Airlines each retain a 29.2 percent interest in the central AMADEUS organization. System One, Owned Jointly by Continental, EDS and AMADEUS, Will Provide Customer Service and a Powerful Information Management Product Line. The transaction also concerns the marketing and software development organization of System One -- based in Houston with an operations facility in Miami. The new System One will be owned in equal parts by Continental Airlines, EDS and AMADEUS. Bill Diffenderffer, CEO and president of the System One, reports to a board of directors comprised of two representatives from each owner company. In addition to Tazon, other System One NMC board members are: Barry Simon Barry Simon (born 16 April, 1946) is an eminent American mathematical physicist and the IBM Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Caltech, known for his prolific contributions in spectral theory, functional analysis, and nonrelativistic quantum mechanics (particularly , senior vice president of Strategic Business Units at Continental Airlines; Bonnie Reitz, vice president of Marketing and Sales at Continental Airlines; Arthur Chavoya, president of EDS' Global Travel Services Industry Business Unit; Jose Ofman, corporate vice president of EDS; David Jones David Jones is a common name, particularly in Wales, and there have been several well-known individuals with this name. Variations include Dave Jones and Davy Jones. , senior vice president and general manager of AMADEUS Marketing. Simon also will represent Continental on the AMADEUS board. As one of the AMADEUS NMC's serving 60 markets worldwide, the marketing organization of System One will cover North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. (Canada, USA, Mexico), Central America, the Caribbean and Pacific basin countries. As an AMADEUS NMC, System One will be supporting its customers exactly as before. In other former System One markets, such as Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Australia and New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. , local AMADEUS NMCs will provide customer support. The development of System One's IMS (1) See IP Multimedia Subsystem. (2) (Information Management System) An early IBM hierarchical DBMS for IBM mainframes. IMS was widely implemented throughout the 1970s under MVS and continues to be used under z/OS. line of products will be accelerated with the joint resources of EDS and AMADEUS and will be offered across all AMADEUS MARKETS. "At one point in time, it made sense for airlines to be the sole owner of CRSs. Travel providers, travel agencies, consumers, and businesses are wanting more than a CRS; they are wanting the level of service only an IMS can offer. And to be an IMS leader, we recognized that the time was more than right to link up with companies that share the same business objectives. By joining forces with AMADEUS and EDS, we each expand the scope of our resources, expertise and technological future through cooperative efforts," said Reitz. "We believe our continued interest and involvement in the System One, as well as in AMADEUS, will provide the input necessary to develop products and services designed to meet the needs of travel providers, as well as strongly position Continental in the future as the challenge of electronic-retailing differentiation increases," added Reitz. "The information age is here, and the goal of the System One is to capitalize on it by continuing to develop software products, as well as integrating databases, so that the user can make better decisions and obtain complete destination information at the touch of a keystroke key·stroke n. A stroke of a key, as on a word processor. key  stroke -- when, where and in the form needed," said Diffenderffer. "This partnership, which gives a new dimension to our existing relationship with Continental and System One, sees EDS joining forces with AMADEUS to tap the potential of the largest network of automated travel agencies in the world," commented Arthur Chavoya, president of EDS' Global Travel Services Industry business unit. "Building on existing System One IMS products and utilizing the combined resources of EDS and AMADEUS, we will be able to help shape the future of distribution and information management in travel," he added. Today, the System One IMS delivers travel information management support to more than 4,700 travel agency locations in the U.S. Among them are the top US travel agency chains that serve the corporate travel accounts of Fortune 500 companies such as AT&T, Ernst and Young, Exxon, Procter and Gamble, Unilever, etc. The IMS product line concentrates on distributed software that links to internal and external databases -- including all CRSs -- to provide value-added travel information and expense management. EDS's Travel and Transportation Group actively works with 150 travel industry clients. Its most recent projects include an agreement with AMADEUS to market jointly EDS' SHARES airline inventory system with AMADEUS' distribution functionality to airlines worldwide. Concluded Tazon: "Within this new partnership, AMADEUS will expand its product offering beyond the distribution services given today to its customers -- travel agencies and travel services suppliers. We aim to provide a wider range of information, sales, marketing and data management services to the travel industry. Our aim is to deliver to the travel agency community the quality and range of automation and data management services needed to compete successfully in an increasingly cost and performance conscious environment." AMADEUS Global Travel Distribution was founded in 1987 and began operating in 1992. Owned by Air France, Iberia Airlines of Spain, Lufthansa German airlines (and 28 additional partner airlines at local market level), AMADEUS leads the travel distribution market in Europe, Latin America and Africa. In 1994, AMADEUS launched a successful expansion drive in Asia and is now the leading CRS in India and Thailand. EDS has operations in 40 countries, employs more than 80,000 people and is the leader in applying information technology to meet the needs of businesses and governments around the globe. Stock reflecting EDS performance is traded on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. under the symbol GME GME granulomatous meningoencephalitis. GME Graduate medical education, see there . EDS reported revenues of USD USD In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the U.S. Dollar. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 10.05 bn in 1994. Continental is the nation's fifth largest airline, serving 163 destinations on five continents. On a typical day, Continental planes take to the skies for 2,162 flights. Strategic business transactions, such as the agreement with AMADEUS, EDS and System One that was announced today, support the "Fund the Future" component of Continental's Go Forward Plan. The Houston-based airline celebrated its 60th anniversary in 1994. Last year, Continental flew more than 42 million passengers, or an average of 115,000 per day. CONTACT: AMADEUS Janice Rotchstein, 212/704-8164 or System One Susan Fox, 713/834-2787 or EDS Julie Bartosh, 214/605-2035 or AMADEUS Miguel Vermehren, +34-1-582-0160 or Continental Airlines Peggy Mahoney, 713/834-5080 |
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