Idiom WorldServer Speeds Launch of Continental Airlines' Spanish Language Reservations Website; Idiom Globalization Solution Enables Expanded Market Reach, Increased Revenues.WALTHAM, Mass. -- Idiom(R) Technologies, Inc. (Idiom), the leading independent provider of scalable software solutions for accelerating and optimizing globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation initiatives, today announced it was selected by Continental Airlines (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : CAL) to speed the launch of its Spanish language Spanish language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). The official language of Spain and 19 Latin American nations, Spanish is spoken as a first language by about 330 million persons online reservations system. With its proven WorldServer(TM) globalization software, Idiom delivered against an aggressive timeline to support one of the airline's most significant enhancements to its website (http://www.continental.com) in recent years. While doing so, Idiom helped Continental achieve critical business goals of expanding its market reach and driving new revenue streams. Jupiter Research recently calculated that consumers will book 56 percent of travel this year directly on supplier websites, a figure that is predicted to increase to 62 percent in 2010. Primary business drivers for Continental's purchase of Idiom WorldServer included taking advantage of this growing revenue opportunity, while also minimizing translation costs. "The airline industry is a competitive market, with travelers often making purchasing decisions based on customer service and dependability. The launch of our Spanish language reservations capabilities is a key step in expanding our reach and creating a positive experience for our online customers," said Ken Penny, director of Internet planning for Continental Airlines and general manager of continental.com. "With the help of Idiom WorldServer software, we have established a strong platform and methodologies to support further expansion of available languages." With WorldServer, Continental has built new efficiencies into current localization Customizing software and documentation for a particular country. It includes the translation of menus and messages into the native spoken language as well as changes in the user interface to accommodate different alphabets and culture. See internationalization and l10n. processes and will be able to more effectively target consumer and business travelers in multiple languages and locales. Primary components of Continental's Spanish language Travel Center have been translated using WorldServer, including the flight booking and rewards system, along with billing, check-out and travel history features. "This deal with Continental is indicative of what's happening in global business today. The directive to launch a Spanish language website came directly from the 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. who laid out an extremely aggressive launch schedule," said Mike Iacobucci, president and CEO, Idiom Technologies. "The CEO didn't direct his team to find a translation or globalization software company - he just wanted the job done. We're finding that many global organizations are looking to expand into new markets, but don't have the right mix of tools to make it happen. WorldServer complements existing content management, software configuration management and database technology investments, helping customers achieve their goals of efficiently and cost-effectively reaching new customers in multiple languages." Creating New Translation Efficiencies Prior to bringing Idiom on board, Continental's approach to translation was highly manual and decentralized de·cen·tral·ize v. de·cen·tral·ized, de·cen·tral·iz·ing, de·cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To distribute the administrative functions or powers of (a central authority) among several local authorities. , with little visibility into workflow and limited ability to reuse reuse - Using code developed for one application program in another application. Traditionally achieved using program libraries. Object-oriented programming offers reusability of code via its techniques of inheritance and genericity. previously translated content. WorldServer provides Continental's translation teams with access to a centralized cen·tral·ize v. cen·tral·ized, cen·tral·iz·ing, cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate. 2. and highly-scalable Translation Memory (TM) database. By sharing a central TM database and taking advantage of sophisticated matching, searching and management capabilities, Continental can ensure the quality and reusability of its previous translations. WorldServer also provides easy-to-use workflow and business rules environments and powerful vendor management features. Currently, all content, code and data from Continental's flight booking, rewards, policies and reservation management applications run through WorldServer for translation prior to being published on the website. WorldServer contributes to Continental's bottom line by lowering translation support costs, allowing more flexible working relationships with translation companies and automating document processing Processing text documents, which includes indexing methods for text retrieval based on content. See document imaging. and connections with content repositories, while ensuring consistency and quality across all Continental websites. WorldServer was integrated with Continental's software configuration management tool, Microsoft Visual SourceSafe Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (VSS) is a source control software package oriented towards smaller software development projects. Overview SourceSafe was created by a company called One Tree Software. The first version known was 3. , in order to leverage existing infrastructure investments. About Idiom Technologies, Inc. Idiom(R) Technologies optimizes the globalization supply chain by aligning global enterprises, language services providers and translators. Proven WorldServer(TM) software solutions enable global organizations to expand market reach and accelerate multilingual mul·ti·lin·gual adj. 1. Of, including, or expressed in several languages: a multilingual dictionary. 2. communication by automating translation and localization processes. Idiom works with global organizations including Adobe, Autodesk, Continental Airlines, eBay, Mattel and Travelocity to cost-effectively translate global websites and applications, streamline software localization and delivery, and speed time-to-market for international product documentation. Idiom also partners with consulting firms Noun 1. consulting firm - a firm of experts providing professional advice to an organization for a fee consulting company business firm, firm, house - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a , systems integrators and technology vendors to help customers achieve high-quality results and maximize existing enterprise infrastructure. Idiom is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts One of the early centers of the Industrial Revolution in northern America, Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 59,226 at the 2000 census. , with offices throughout 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. and in Europe. To learn more please visit http://www.idiominc.com or call +1 781-464-6000. Idiom and WorldServer are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Idiom Technologies, Inc. Microsoft and Visual SourceSafe are trademarks of Microsoft. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. |
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