Cutting-Edge ‘Skype Station’ to Offer Free Video Calls introduced at IMEX, Estonia stand F270

Visitors to the Meet Estonia stand (F270) at this year’s IMEX fair can be among the first in the world to try out Skype Station, an ultramodern communication booth that lets users make free video calls via the internet.

Developed by the Estonian company AdTech, the stylishly-designed station not only works as a phone booth for the digital age, it has the capability of doubling as an eye-catching conference communication device and an online shopping portal.

Skype Station is the latest innovation to come out of E-Estonia, the country that gave birth to the Skype VoIP service and leads Europe in the availability of free Wi-Fi – an asset that has made this novel, affordable travel destination all the more attractive to event organisers.

More information about the Skype Station, the E-Estonia tech boom and other factors that make Estonia such an excellent conference choice will be available at the Meet Estonia stand.

To book a meeting, contact Kadri Karu, Estonian Convention Bureau kadri.karu@ecb.ee. Drop-ins are also welcome!

Egencia Mobile Extends to Additional Platforms

The leading TMC’s mobile application is now available on Android and Mobile Web enabled devices.

Egencia®, the corporate travel arm of Expedia Inc., today launched the next phase of Egencia Mobile, extending their mobile application to Android and Mobile Web devices. Previously developed for the iPhone, Egencia Mobile enables business travellers to easily access flight and destination alerts, check-in online, receive one-click customer support and much more – nearly anywhere in the world, now on virtually any type of mobile device.

“Egencia Mobile further demonstrates Egencia’s continued focus on providing the best-in-class experience for our mobile users by placing more power in their hands, ensuring they can easily view their itineraries and receive pertinent, up-to-date travel information while on the road,” said Rob Greyber, President, Egencia. “The app was designed specifically for business travellers, based on their feedback and catering to their needs by conveniently providing useful travel information quickly and easily on their device of choice.”

Egencia Mobile App Features

Information At Your Fingertips

With Egencia Mobile, flight and destination alerts, online check-in, and customer support are always a touch away to help business travellers travel more efficiently, smartly, and safely.

Flight and Destination Alerts

This unique feature ensures that the traveller is instantly aware of time sensitive issues and crisis scenarios:

• Flight alerts inform travellers about flight delays and cancellations that may affect their trip.

• Destination alerts, covering natural disasters, security issues, weather, etc.

• Alerts are prominently displayed throughout the app so the traveller can easily and quickly view and access their alerts.

Additional Features and Functionalities

• Online Check-in is available today for all major airlines — making check-in one click away.

• Interactive Maps for all trip stages.

• Flight Schedules: Egencia Mobile makes identifying flight options easier than ever. If the traveller misses their flight, they will be able to quickly determine if and when a next flight is available.

• Click-to-Call Egencia Customer Service: the “Contact” tab enables the traveller to call or email customer service with one touch.

Egencia Mobile is currently available in the following countries: UK, US, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Canada, Australia, and India. Languages supported include English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Canadian French, and Dutch. Thanks to Egencia’s proprietary technology, all travellers can experience the same benefits and functionality regardless of location.

The app, built for Egencia clients, is accessible / downloadable for free at:

Apple App Store:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/egencia/id446768364?mt=8

Google Play:

http://play.google.com/store/apps

Mobile Website:

http://mobile.egencia.com

SVV expands significantly in Russia

Suomen Videoviestintä (SVV), a subsidiary of Finnish Fair Corporation, has won a major tender in Russia. SVV will be responsible for the conference technology used at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Second Senior Official’s Meeting in Kazan (Russia), which will be held in late May.

For this Finnish Fair Corporation subsidiary specialising in high-end conference and show technology, this endeavour paves the way to an entirely new area.

“Reasons for the choice of SVV include first-rate equipment, skilled technical staff and our reputation for reliability in Russia. Since 2007, we have supplied the technology for the main conference room at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum”, comments Mika Vakkilainen, Technical Director at Finnish Fair Corporation.

At the APEC Meeting in Kazan, SVV will provide the technical equipment for the ministers’ meeting room as well as eight other conference facilities. The duration of the project including building, implementation and dismantling is approximately one month.

APEC was founded in 1989 to promote economic growth, cooperation, trade and investments in the Pacific Rim area. Participants of the Kazan meeting will include key economic experts from 25 countries.

Focus on the Futur en Seine festival

Futur en Seine is an international digital technology festival that will take place in Paris and throughout the Île-de-France region from 14 to 24 June 2012. Created in 2009, Futur en Seine is not only the first, but the only international festival devoted to showcasing some of the latest French and international digital inventions and technology to professionals and the general public over a ten-day period. Last year, the festival welcomed over 80,000 visitors.

In order to enjoy a greater visibility this year, the festival will begin with four days at the Centquatre: two days for professionals on the Thursday 14 June and Friday 15 June followed by weekend events open to the general public on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 June. Over the course of the following week, numerous events will also be held throughout Paris and the Île-de-France, such as a digital treasure hunt, a digital urban adventure, as well as the closing night festivities at Enghien-les-Bains.

Le village des innovations (Innovations village) installed in the Centquatre will house numerous events that will offer the public an insight into the future of digital equipment; robots as aides to everyday life, the school of the future, an improved environment, etc. These innovative inventions or designs will be presented by their inventors: entrepreneurs, designers and scientists, and conferences, concerts and performances will also be held allowing professionals and the general public the opportunity to debate and discuss the uses of technology.
Futur en Seine is organized by Cap digital, the centre concerned with the competitiveness and content of digital services. The centre boasts over 700 members ranging from 620 SMEs, 20 large groups, 50 public institutions, schools, universities and 10 private equity investors.
www.futur-en-seine.fr

Honeywell And Inmarsat To Modernize Global In-Flight Connectivity

New Service to Deliver Fast, Reliable In-Flight Connectivity for iPads, Smartphones, Tablet Devices, and Laptops

-Allows for Real-Time Social Media, Video Conferencing, and Multi-Media Presentation in-Flight, Similar to Being at Home or in the Office

-Honeywell and Global Xpress Network to Establish Leadership Position in Rapidly Growing Airborne Connectivity Segment; Industry Forecasts Airline Passenger Traffic to Double Over the Next 20 Years

-$2.8 Billion Estimated Value to Honeywell Over the Next Two Decades

LONDON and PHOENIX, April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Honeywell (NYSE:HON) and Inmarsat (LSE:ISAT.L) have signed an exclusive agreement to provide global in-flight connectivity services to business, commercial, and government aviation customers around the world.  Under the terms of the agreement, Honeywell will develop, produce, and distribute the onboard hardware that will enable users to connect to Inmarsat’s Global Xpress™ network.  This exclusive agreement is estimated to represent $2.8 billion for Honeywell in sales of hardware, customer service, and maintenance to airlines, government entities and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) over the next two decades.  Global Xpress is scheduled for launch in 2013, with global service for commercial, business aviation, and government customers available in 2014.

By combining Honeywell’s satellite communication capabilities with Inmarsat’s Global Xpress connectivity, travelers will be able to do everything from real-time social media, to video conferencing and multi-media presentation development while in-flight virtually anywhere in the world, with an experience similar to being at home or in the office.  Passengers will have fast, reliable in-flight connectivity for their iPads, smartphones, tablet devices, and laptops while crossing oceans.

“With this new service, the flow of information will no longer stop when the door to the aircraft closes,” said Tim Mahoney, President and CEO, Honeywell Aerospace.  “Honeywell identified global aircraft connectivity as a future growth trend, and through the combination of the recently acquired EMS Technologies, Inc.’s broad technology offerings and Honeywell’s global aerospace franchise, the company is the perfect partner to launch the Inmarsat Global Xpress aerospace network.  We believe this new network will significantly expand the connectivity options of consumer, business, and government customers around the world.”

By the year 2016, it is estimated there will be 10 billion mobile devices in the world, and a global population of approximately 7.3 billion people.  Demand for data traffic is expected to grow by a factor of 50 for smartphones and a factor of 62 for tablets.  By 2016, it is estimated that 71 percent of all mobile traffic will be used for watching videos.  With the roll-out of the Global Xpress network, Honeywell is in a leading position to deliver airborne connectivity solution to this rapidly expanding market.

“Global Xpress will be the world’s first global Ka-band service for aviation customers and will raise the bar for in-flight connectivity,” said Leo Mondale, Managing Director, Global Xpress, Inmarsat.  ”Honeywell is the most qualified and credible technology partner in their field, and has put forward a superb technical solution for the Global Xpress aviation user terminal.  Building on its truly global presence, which today supports a broad portfolio of aviation products and services, Honeywell will offer world class customer service, support, and maintenance for the Global Xpress connectivity products worldwide.”

Global Xpress Transforms Consumer and Business Traveler Connectivity
Global Xpress will operate in the Ka-band, with four times the bandwidth available compared to alternative solutions in Ku-band.  This expanded spectrum resource, delivered via spot beam technology, will enable Global Xpress to outperform Ku-band based services in both speed and cost.

Honeywell already supports Inmarsat’s current premier aviation service, SwiftBroadband, so it is meeting the increasing need for global in-flight communications today, while building a bridge to better and faster communications when Global Xpress launches.

“Passengers worldwide are hungering for better connectivity and more expanded services during flights, driven in part by the explosion of tablet devices,” said Carl Esposito, Vice President, Marketing and Product Management, Honeywell Aerospace. “Airlines are taking notice of this development and placing a higher value on passenger connectivity as a way to add value and differentiate their services.”

Global Xpress Network Expands Government and Military Connectivity Options to Improve Field Coordination
With this new service, government users can communicate mission critical information with ground bases regarding details about position and status of manned and unmanned aircraft.  Additionally, Honeywell believes that the network connectivity requirements of government users to “always be on” will drive an accelerated level of adoption of this service to meet critical mission requirements.

This service represents a high value for government customers, enabling them to buy comparatively inexpensive satellite communications, and use an already established global consistent network to send data across for many purposes.

Technology’s reach in travel grows but some struggle to keep up

 The importance of technology across all aspects of the travel industry is growing, with some buyers interested in new developments, according to a panel of experts at the latest World Travel Market Meridian Club Think Tank.

A dozen technology buyers and WTM representatives, covering a cross-section of interests, attended the ‘Chatham House’ rules event, meaning all comments made are reported anonymously and unattributable not only to an individual but also the organisation they represent.

Familiar topics which fall under the technology banner were discussed, such as social media, Google, rate parity, return on investment and resources.

But some guests expressed interest in new areas. Cloud computing within the travel sector was discussed, with one guest suggesting that “cloud technology can lead to savings of around 70%” for some travel businesses, and that this was an area where smaller companies could benefit.

Alternative payment mechanisms are emerging as a way for technology suppliers to help travel companies not only save money but also make their products available to a wider customer base. “Taking payment using means other than credit or debit cards could work in mature travel markets” it was suggested, while some tour operator guests mentioned how suppliers in Africa were using mobile commerce to accept payments.

This was trend highlighted in the WTM Global Trends Report 2011, in association with Euromonitor International.

Some smaller businesses in attendance however suggested they “were being left behind by the big boys”, not only in terms of available products but also in terms of knowledge. One attendee admitted he had “burnt a lot of money trying to adopt a social media strategy for a market which clearly was not interested”, while another guest admitted that he “really didn’t have a clue” about how to use Twitter to market a specialist, high margin, late availability package.

Other businesses felt “exposed” to the sales pitch of web developers and needed the knowledge to talk the same language.

“Getting on the phone and talking to someone” was often the most effective way to do business, according to guests who dealt primarily with hotels. This traditional way of contracting remains popular despite the strength of the B2B bedbanks and online wholesalers.

World Travel Market Travel Technology Regional Account Manager Jo Marshall said: “The Travel Technology region of WTM grew by 40% last year and is poised to be even bigger at WTM 2012, so we’re keen to find out as early as possible what buyers and exhibitors want from this year’s event.

“It is clear that while some businesses are forging ahead with demands for cutting-edge products, others still need to understand how they can make the most of what is currently available. Our intention is to make sure we deliver a programme for WTM2012 that satisfies technology needs across the entire industry.”

Experian Hitwise reveals latest UK Search Engine Analysis

2.2 billion visits to search engines in January 2012

Visits to search engines up 174 million year-on-year

London, March 2012 - UK Internet users made 2.2 billion visits to search engines in February 2012, up by 174 million visits compared to February 2011. The increase in search activity represents an 8.7 per cent year-on-year increase. Google further increased its dominance within the UK search market in February as rival search engines bing and Yahoo! both lost market share.

In total, Google Sites accounted for 91.57 per cent of all searches conducted in the UK in February 2012, up by nearly one per cent from January 2012. Year-on-year Google also saw positive growth with a 0.89 per cent increase in market share of searches compared to February 2011.

Microsoft Sites led by bing were unable to build on their growth at the beginning of the year and instead their market share slipped by 0.48 per cent this month. Yahoo! Sites also decreased in market share by 0.39 per cent. Ask Sites maintained their market share in February and showed year-on-year growth of 0.37 per cent. Meanwhile, all other search engines monitored by Experian Hitwise lost market share both this month and in the year-on-year comparison.

James Murray, Market Research Analyst at Experian Hitwise commented: “There was a continuing growth trend in visits to search engines in February 2012, as people relied on search to navigate their way around the Internet. Compared to February 2011 we saw an additional 174 million visits to search engines in February 2012, an impressive 8.7 per cent growth year-on-year. Understanding how people are interacting with search engines, which keywords they are using and how successful those searches are, is becoming more critical than ever for companies to successfully market their brand online.”

EGENCIA ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE LEADING NORDIC CORPORATE TRAVEL COMPANY VIA TRAVEL

BELLEVUE, Wash., Mar. 27, 2012 – Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) company, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire VIA Travel, the largest travel management company in the Nordics. The combined company will offer industry-leading corporate travel management solutions across the globe.
“We are very pleased to be joining forces with VIA Travel, the corporate travel leader in the Nordics. VIA’s strong commitment to delivering superior service to its customers is perfectly aligned to Egencia’s client first approach,” said Rob Greyber, President of Egencia.
“Together, VIA Travel and Egencia will provide a robust global corporate travel service to corporate clients, supported by global and local market expertise and industry-leading technology.”
“Our customers are our first priority. Together with VIA Travel we will provide our clients with a rich corporate travel offering and accelerate our collective pace of technology innovation,”  adds Christophe Peymirat, SVP EMEA & APAC at Egencia.
“Joining one of the world’s largest travel management companies is an exciting step for VIA Travel. Egencia’s global scale, technology expertise and our perfectly complementary global footprint makes the joining of our companies a great outcome for our customers and
employees,” said Espen Asheim, CEO of VIA Travel Group.
Founded in 1997, VIA Travel Group is the largest travel management company in the Nordic countries. In addition to its core corporate travel services, the company offers services for corporate groups and meetings, leisure travel, marine transport, and more.
“Corporate travel is a growing part of Expedia, Inc.’s overall business,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia, Inc., parent company of Egencia. “Together, VIA Travel and Egencia will provide a rich global offering to their corporate customers. We are very excited about welcoming VIA Travel to the Expedia, Inc. family and look forward to driving innovation and providing outstanding service in the corporate travel segment around the globe.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The closing of the transaction is subject to approval from relevant competition authorities.

February Sets Records for Average North American Hotel Rates

Distribution Channels Realize Rate Increases as Leap Year Drives Global Booking Volumes

DALLAS (March 26, 2012) – Rates paid for North American hotel rooms in February led to record increases over prior year for both business and leisure bookings, according to the latest data from Pegasus Solutions reported today in The Pegasus View . Corporate rates edged past previous record margins of +7.0% from January 2012 and July 2011 to a new high of +7.1%, while leisure rates rose +7.3%, almost a full percentage point more than June 2011’s previous high of +6.4%.

Bookings, which had fallen off inflated prior-year levels in January, enjoyed a bump from Leap Year as the extra day in the month drove global booking volumes up for both channels. Globally, corporate bookings rose +5.1% over prior year, and would still have risen +0.5% without the extra day. Leisure bookings, which rose +2.5%, would have returned a slight drop of -1.6% without the 29th.

“By the numbers, February was a good month worldwide,” said Mike Kistner chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions. “No doubt, business and consumer reservation volumes were bolstered by the extra day of bookings, but it wasn’t Leap Year that drove rates up – demand did. And it did so in an utterly convincing manner for both channels, setting records in North America and still rising elsewhere.”

Reservation growth in North America did not match the rate gains for business or leisure travel, but still improved from January. Corporate bookings in the region grew +3.5% over prior year, compared to +7.0% for all other global regions combined, while leisure volumes realized an increase of +1.8%, far shy of the +6.8% gain realized outside of North America.

While North America continues to lead the rate recovery as a region, corporate rates grew +3.7% globally, and increased a slight +0.3% for all other regions in total. Leisure rates outpaced North America globally at +7.6% over 2011, returning gains of +3.6% outside North America.

The Pegasus View reporting on February 2012 bookings is available online and by free subscription at www.pegs.com. Data reported in The Pegasus View comes from billions of transactions processed monthly by Pegasus Solutions, the world’s single largest global processor of hotel transactions. It is the only industry report to reflect data drawn from both GDS and ADS transactions, representing the business and leisure markets respectively for approximately 90,000 hotels worldwide

Free app lets you instantly create free conference calls anywhere on earth.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Socialdial, Inc. today announced the release of CrowdCall, a new, free mobile app for both iPhone and Android that lets you instantly create free conference or group calls with up to 20 people anywhere on earth. Users simply select the people they want to include in their conference from their contacts list, touch the call button and everyone on the list is called and connected to a group call.  You can include anyone in your contact list in the call, they don’t need to have the app to participate.  The free app can be downloaded athttp://socialdial.com/crowdcall/download.php.

“We wanted to make it easy for anyone to create a conference or group call right from their iPhone or Android phone,” saidRandy Adams, CEO of Socialdial, Inc. “It’s great to connect with friends, family or business associates in a group call, but it has always been complicated and expensive to set up a call, especially from your phone.  We are changing all that with CrowdCall, the easiest, free way to stay in touch.  No dial-in numbers, no PIN codes to remember, just touch one button and everybody gets connected.”

Instead of creating a dial-in number and PIN codes, CrowdCall simply calls everyone on the conference list when the user presses the call button.  Participants receive a call from the user and simply answer and press the “1″ key and are instantly connected to the conference.  CrowdCall is ideal for families spread out across the world, especially for those with loved ones in military service abroad.  CrowdCall is also great for connecting with your friends at any social event or to invite them over for a party.  And of course CrowdCall is great for businesses interested in setting up a quick ad hoc conference call at a moments notice.

Socialdial offers CrowdCall free to everyone on iPhone and Android and is available in the Apple App Store and Android Market.  The only cost incurred in using CrowdCall is a local call from the user to the CrowdCall server which simply uses local minutes on your phone plan.

amiando launches Green Ticketing @SXSW

Munich/Austin –March 14, 2012 – amiando (www.amiando.com), one of the leading online registration and ticketing tools worldwide, announced today that it launches amiando Green Ticketing at this year’s SXSW interactive festival.

amiando’s online event management software allows event organizers and delegates to be more environmentally-thoughtful. Not only is amiando’s online registration system completely paperless, amiando now allows delegates to buy CO2 certificates in order to compensate for their carbon dioxide emissions impact that is caused by their travel to and from the event.

Green events

Green events adopt environmentally friendly measures wherever it is possible. The main goal is to reduce their carbon footprint, which is the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the particular event. There are multiple ways to make an event greener such as saving energy, recycling, paperless online event management systems and the minimization of carbon dioxide emissions for travelling delegates. amiando takes responsibility and supports this idea: It provides event organizers with an online registration system that minimizes the environmental impact that results from an event and its delegates.

Paperless registration

amiando’s online event management systems allows for a complete paperless and environmentally friendly attendee registration process. All information and documents including the registration confirmation and tickets are sent via email automatically. Furthermore amiando’s entry management software allows the validation of registered attendees without the need of a printed ticket.

Compensate your carbon dioxide impact

Attendee travel to and from an event accounts for a large majority of the overall carbon dioxide footprint of an event. amiando now allows attendees to compensate their CO2 impact by offering the chance to buy CO2 certificates when registering for an event. The price for each CO2 certificate depends on the individual attendee’s travel distance as well as the type and the length of the event. The compensation amount is used for reforestation projects in Costa Rica that compensate for the attendee’s calculated carbon dioxide emissions. Organizers and sponsors can have a share in making event management greener by paying the total cost for compensating the event’s carbon dioxide footprint.

“Event production and attendee travelling make events a relevant contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. As the tool of choice for thousands of event organizers we see it as our responsibility to act environmentally thoughtful. Therefore we are very happy and proud to help both event organizers and delegates to reduce an event’s carbon footprint”, says Felix Haas, CEO amiando.

Get the FREE City Cards App

Now available for Android and iPhone!

The City Cards smartphone app allows users to explore the visitor attractions available in 35 European Cities! It is now available for Android and iPhone!

All of the attractions listed in the application are mapped, so the users can easily find their way from their current location to the attraction that they wish to visit.

The City Cards App is a great way to see the sights when on vacation and at the same time, find out how you can save money with your city card. City Cards give the bearer discounted admission to a range of top visitor attractions, and in many cases offer a range of money saving special offers on food, drink and shopping.

European Cities Marketing are delighted to offer the European City Cards iPhone & Android App to all users for FREE!

Click here to find out more and to download it for FREE!

Microsoft and World Tourism Organization to drive innovation in the tourism sector

·Microsoft becomes a strategic partner of UNWTO in terms of technological innovation initiatives in the tourism sector.

·Microsoft will participate in joint efforts to develop emblematic technological projects led by UNWTO.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Microsoft signed today an agreement aimed at bringing the benefits of the most advanced technologies to the tourism sector and driving the industry’s evolution towards the computing paradigm of the future. Jean-Philippe Courtois, President of Microsoft International, and Márcio Favilla, Executive Director of UNWTO, have forged this alliance that, in an increasingly demanding and competitive economic context, will promote technological innovation in world tourism and help the Spanish market strengthen the country’s brand as a world leader in the application of innovation to the tourism sector.

With this agreement, Microsoft becomes a strategic partner of UNWTO that will propose, coordinate and spearhead technological innovation initiatives within the community of the Organization’s Member States and Affiliate Members. It will also make new technologies available to the international tourism sector in order to enhance its competitiveness.

Jean-Philippe Courtois, President of Microsoft International, pointed out that “the tourism sector has undergone a drastic transformation over the past years and has been evolving towards Tourism 3.0, where users connect to travel websites and interact by sharing their experiences, thus directly influencing the perceptions and decisions of other users and potential travellers. Because of this, it is more and more important for tourism sector enterprises to develop their online businesses by looking to the most advanced technology. In this regard, the adoption of cloud computing is key, as it provides access to a solid web platform that will make it possible to offer more productive, efficient and competitive services.”

According to Márcio Favilla, Executive Director of the World Tourism Organization, “cooperation with Microsoft is both timely, in light of the current economic context, and necessary in view of the technological demands we are subject to. Tourism has a proven track record when it comes to being at the leading edge of innovation and the dissemination of best practices, and our sector closely reflects the positive potential of globalization. Thanks to cooperation with Microsoft we will be able to more rapidly implement training tools and disseminate their content, stimulate the adoption of practical and advanced technological solutions in our sector and continue to promote tourism as a vehicle of sustainable development, in line with the position held by the UN.”

The transformation of the tourism sector: the Tourist 3.

Today’s tourists are geared towards the 3.0 environment; they are connected to the Net and are highly present in social networks. Consequently, it is more important than ever for destinations and tourism enterprises to not only have an Internet presence but also to offer their users a good experience and the necessary tools to interact with the supply side and with other users.

The Microsoft Innovation Center in Tourism Technologies (MICTT) will take part in joint efforts to develop technological projects led by UNWTO. UNWTO members will have preferential access to the services offered by the MICTT, including the development of proofs of concept and pilot projects applying technological innovation to the tourism industry.

By virtue of this agreement, Microsoft will also collaborate with the UNWTO Themis Foundation, which is responsible for implementing the World Tourism Organization’s programme of work in the field of Education and Training, in a training programme on technological innovation and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the tourism sector. These two entities will work together in actions for the dissemination of the use of information technologies, aimed especially at small and medium-sized tourism enterprises. They will also collaborate in the development of volunteer projects related to tourism innovation in emerging countries.

The complete guide to ITB Berlin on your mobile

Berlin, 23 February 2012 – With the free ITB Mobile Guide app visitors to ITB Berlin are always well informed. This year’s trade fair guide has numerous new features, including “What’s on“, an overview of current events, plus an A to Z of ITB, which lists everything visitors need to know about the world’s largest travel trade show (7 to 11 March 2012). Besides a map of the grounds, information includes the programme of the ITB Berlin Convention, a list of events along with press conferences, presentations, receptions, and a function for looking up exhibitors. For the first time the Android and iPhone versions showing the grounds are linked to a comprehensive map of the halls.As always there is a list of all the exhibitors with links to the Virtual Market Place and a wealth of information for visitors to Berlin. After the fair closes the ITB Mobile Guide provides users with information on the quickest way to the city centre and tips on Berlin nightlife. Also included are restaurants, bars and information on tourist attractions.

The ITB Mobile Guide – provided by GIATA & TOURIAS – is available for downloading free of charge from the App Store and Android Market. This clever pocket-sized trade fair companion can be easily downloaded fromwww.itb-berlin.de/mobil, can be run using a mobile or smartphone browser from itb-berlin.mobi, or can be requested via SMS by sending the keyword “ITB” to +49-177-1781424 (individual SMS/download charges apply).

The ITB Mobile Guide was developed by leading tourism content providers TOURIAS & GIATA. Both companies offer comprehensive solutions for mobiles and smartphones for hotels, tour operators and travel portals. With the GIATA TOURIAS Travel Guide travel agencies and tour operators are able to offer their customers a free smartphone travel guide to over a hundred of the most popular travel destinations. “Apps have become indispensable to the tourism industry “, says Christoph Schotter, managing director of Tourias Mobile GmbH. “They create entirely new prospects for marketing and winning over new customers.“

Skyscanner Reveals new Look

SINGAPORE, February 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –

Leading travel search site Skyscanner today unveils a dramatic new redesign, rolling out the new look simultaneously across all platforms and markets in 29 languages.

“The launch date was only decided back in November and we have been flat out with the re-design since then,” said Marketing Director Frank Skivington.

He explained the drive behind the new look and feel for the site; “We are very focused on design at Skyscanner, but probably with more emphasis on making the product as good as it can be – giving travellers a comprehensive one stop search site for flights, hotels and car hire and bringing clever new features and brilliant functionality to our users as fast as possible.

“The constant evolution and expansion of the site also means we are dealing with a moving target when it comes to design. And of course we also have the challenge of localising the brand for our many international sites, from Russian to Korean, so it has been an interesting project, to say the least!”

The new design has been developed with the aim of concentrating on the Skyscanner ethos of delivering a brilliant core offering, while keeping the interface simple, beautiful, fast and functional. One of the objectives for the project was to reflect best practices in design for usability as well as look good, so customer testing and feedback sessions were built in to the redesign process.

Skyscanner fans will be pleased to find all of Skyscanner’s very clever search tools are still on the site. Customers can still see at a glance which days are cheapest to travel across a whole month, and search for ‘everywhere’ to see which destinations have the best flight deals on offer.

“We’ve tried to make all these very popular elements easier to find and use, as well as paving the way for some very exciting new features and search options that will be launched later in the year,” said Skivington.

Venue IT appointed by The Cumberland Hotel

Venue IT, the permanent infrastructure division of Etherlive, has strengthened its ties to the hotel industry with its appointment by The Cumberland hotel, The Tower and Marble Arch.

The landmark London hotel has chosen Venue IT as its technology provider for meetings & events. The appointment follows discussions looking at the longer term conferencing needs for the award winning hotel.

Following a £95 million refurbishment, The Cumberland is now looking to assert itself in the lucrative corporate events market set to be stimulated by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

Venue IT will provide high-speed Internet connectivity which can be accessed throughout the hotel’s 26 meeting & event spaces, including the ultra modern Ocean Room, which has a capacity of up to 350 people. The enhanced communications infrastructure will support innovations such as dedicated WiFi, custom branded splash pages, real-time video conferencing and social media led interactive events such as tweet-ups.

The system can support multiple independent secure networks and is remotely managed to ensure The Cumberland can quickly react to customer needs. Venue IT provides pre-win sales support to address any technical concern whilst providing engineers for install, support and de-rig as required.

Venue IT continues to partner with leading permanent venues, offering managed high speed internet connected, wireless networking and customer engagement support.  The agreement widens Venue IT’s recent appointments to venues such as Thistle Hotel Glasgow and Malvern Showground.

The Cumberland takes advantage of its prized location between bustling Oxford Street and glamorous Park Lane, having hosted major events regularly.

Paul Hope, Voice Network manager at Guoman Hotels said: “Venue IT has built a reputation for quality and innovation in the permanent installation space, and as such we are delighted to be able to draw on their expertise.  We pride ourselves on being able to meet every requirement our clients ask of us with and this partnership means the technology aspect of our offering is in safe hands. This will be crucial for us as we continue to prepare for 2012.”

Steve Birnage, Senior Account Manager at Venue IT said: “We are thrilled at the opportunity to take on this project, which will see us equip The Cumberland with the latest in event technology. Today’s event organisers are looking for an infrastructure which supports creativity in both communications and content, which we will now be able to facilitate.”

HRG demonstrates technology enhancements at Business Travel Show

Hogg Robinson Group (HRG)  announced the newest version of HRG Online™ at the Business Travel Show at Earls Court in London.

Already in use by travellers around the world, HRG Online is HRG’s self-service online booking tool designed to manage data and drive value in travel spend. New features further boost transparency and incorporate a number of policy checks to ensure travel arrangements adhere to corporate guidelines, including:

• advanced waitlist functionality to reduce time and effort spent on sourcing flights by combining waitlist segments to a confirmed itinerary
• ability to reserve specific Eurostar seating through integrated booking platform to reduce time and effort spent
• lowest fare policy rules for rail travel to allow travel managers to enforce policy and guarantee that travellers always select the best possible ticket price
• maximum fare price restrictions for air, rail and car orders to allow travel managers to enforce policy and guarantee that travellers do comply with maximum fare restrictions

HRG’s team will also be exhibiting HRG i-Suite, HRG’s web-based portal that integrates a self-service reservation tool, data consolidation and reporting, expense management and traveller tracking capabilities, as well as the recent HRG i-Suite mobile application. The mobile application provides immediate access for travellers on the move.

Paul Saggar, HRG’s Director of Technology and Product Development, said. “As always, we’re eager to show clients how we’ve further developed HRG’s already strong portfolio of travel technology built in-house. We consistently assess our service offering to ensure that our technology is leading the market by servicing clients’ global needs, whether that be a more seamless user experience, more spend transparency or tighter security measures.”

ITB Berlin expands its floor area for over 230 travel technology exhibitors from 15 countries

More technology than ever

Berlin, 7 February 2012 – Nowadays travel technology is omnipresent in the global travel industry: this includes the back office, electronically-supported personalised sales and location-sensitive mobile travel services. At ITB Berlin 2012 this rapid development has led to an unprecedented rush of exhibitors: over 230 travel technology companies from 15 countries are expected from 7 to 11 March in Berlin. The event features back office technology (Hall 6.1), hotel software and reservation machines (Hall 8.1 and 10.1) as well as social media, travel portal and mobile travel solutions (eTravel World, Hall 7.1.c).

The traditional travel technology display areas have been fully booked since December 2011. For this reason, some exhibitors from this sector are in Hall 25 for the first time. Here visitors can find online travel agencies as well as providers of event and airline software. With a joint stand for the Thai Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) as well as new technology providers from Greece, India, Romania and the United Kingdom, ITB Berlin once again highlights its major international importance in this segment.

“We are particularly pleased that we have been able to inspire many new innovative companies and the regular, high performing participants as well as previous exhibitors to come to ITB Berlin”, says David Ruetz, Director of ITB Berlin. This can be attributed not just to the general travel technology boom but also to the wide range of attractions at the world’s leading travel trade show: “In the last few years we have continually increased the number of forums and discussion platforms at ITB Berlin. This year the papers will be interpreted on the stage of the eTravel World. As part of the ITB Berlin Convention we examine industry trends, which are more than ever driven by further developments in the field of travel technology”.

Travel Technology Trends 2012

The travel technology trends for 2012 continue to include the development of mobile travel applications (apps), which have grown rapidly over the last two years and are continuing to expand. The 2012 issue of the “Mobile Travel App Guide”, which is published by m.volution with the support of ITB Berlin, has more than 100 pages.

In the field of analysis new evaluation tools are now available for review portals: the discipline is referred to as Social Review Management. At ITB Berlin, solutions for hotel review portals and suitability of the user-generated content available there for promoting sales are highlights of the programme.

Through the use of innovative search technology companies are also endeavouring to make it easier for customers to access an ever increasing amount of data. Two search technologies which could, in the future, help to consolidate accurate and genuinely relevant information and filter out cheap offers are semantic or free text searches (natural language search, automatic evaluation of search queries based on language expressions) and gesture based searches (whereby facial expressions and gestures are interpreted in order to incorporate the searcher’s emotions in a presentation of the findings).

Internet driven product innovations with a promising potential includesocial trip planning, also in combination with group buying portals: Travellers with the same destination who meet on social networks or travel discount portals can combine their purchase power online in order to obtain particularly favourable conditions when booking city tours, journeys to attend specific events or cultural trips .

Last but not least, there remains the issue of how the enormous costs of IT and networking can be optimised in the long-term. In an industry that has been dominated by proprietary solutions for so long, open sourcing or cloud computing are newly emerging concepts in innovative infrastructure, architecture and software development, and no-one need renounce any part of what are in any case narrow profit margins.

Visitors can find out more about this topic from the exhibitors, either at the ITB Berlin Convention or the eTravel World.

Travel Technology in the convention programme

Travel technology topics are represented several times in the programme of the ITB Berlin Convention:  PhoCusWright@ITB (7 March, Hall 7.3, Europa Hall) is the forum for travel technology experts and CXOs, who will be discussing market developments under the slogan “Travel Unleashed: Any. Every. Always.”   Visitors can find out interesting information about the state and development of social media at the Marketing and Distribution Day (9 March, Hall 7.1b, London Hall). The programme on the stage at eTravel World (Hall 7.1c) also provides insight into trends such as Social-Mobile-Local (SoMoLo), couponing, mobile payment and review management. An all-day travel app marathon (10 March, eTravel World Hall 7.1c) informs visitors about the most exciting smartphone applications when on the move.

Amadeus appoints ex-Wyndham CIO Jeff Edwards to lead rapidly expanding hotel division

Edwards brings to Amadeus extensive global experience in hotel distribution and IT systems, an exceptional network and a strong track record in building successful business organizations; New appointment underlines Amadeus’ further commitment to growing its New Businesses portfolio

Madrid, Spain, 2 February 2012: Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, today announces the key strategic appointment of hotel industry veteran Jeff Edwards to head up its growing hotel business.

Edwards, formerly Chief Information Officer and EVP Distribution of Wyndham Worldwide, joins Amadeus with a clear brief to quickly expand its burgeoning hotel division, which incorporates both distribution and IT services.

Prior to Wyndham Worldwide, Edwards spent more than five years at Micros Systems Inc where he held a variety of senior roles including President and Chief Executive Officer – Micros Fidelio, as well as Executive Vice President-Micros Distribution for North America. Both before and after his time at Micros Systems, Edwards was an entrepreneur who ran his own hotel and hospitality consulting business, creating numerous new enterprises while at the same time winning business from a wide range of leading hotel chains across the globe.

Google Maps Out a New Way to Plan British Train Travel

Google and thetrainline.com come together to help customers plan train travel across Britain

Travelling across Britain by train just became easier, with the launch of information and timetables for mainland Britain on Google Maps, the most popular online mapping site in the world, courtesy of thetrainline.com.

As of today, train travellers can search for journeys across the country at maps.google.co.uk with more than 2,500 stations and 170,000 trips nationwide at their fingertips, in addition 8,000 bus stops and over 250 tube stations. The website also gives users full information on walking directions and some bus timetables for connections, as well as the opportunity to click through to leading online train ticketing website thetrainline.com, to search for and book cheap tickets for their journey.

So for anyone who has ever wondered how quickly they can get from a street in Reading to a hotel in Llandudno, or how many changes they’d have to make on the London to Edinburgh route, the website gives users full information. This includes walking directions and bus timetables for connections, as well as the opportunity to click through to leading online train ticketing website thetrainline.com, to search for and book cheap train tickets for their journey.

Searching for travel information across Greater London was already possible but now thanks to the new updates, internet and mobile users have access to timetables and train information for routes across the whole country.

The partnership expands Google’s popular mapping and directions tool and supports thetrainline.com’s goal of making rail journey planning easy and highlighting the convenience and cost benefits to people of travelling by train.

Richard Rowson, Product Development Director at thetrainline.com said: “We’re delighted to be providing train travel information through Google Maps for the first time. We want to make sure that consumers are always able to consider rail options when making a journey and this innovation will help train travellers nationwide to do that by planning their route more easily. This is a fantastic partnership and demonstrates what two market leading brands working together can achieve.”

Ed Parsons, Google UK’s geospatial technologist, said: “Google Maps seeks to provide a wide range of relevant local information, and public transport station and schedule information is definitely a part of that. It is great to be able to partner with companies like thetrainline.com and have their schedule information available in Google Maps for the whole of Britain. This means we can reach and help a larger number of people with useful national rail train information.”
Google Maps is available in over 50 languages, so with London set to be a very popular destination this coming summer, tourists will also be able to combine walking with transit directions on Google Maps for mobile to help find their way around the country.

Christopher Rodrigues, VisitBritain Chairman said: “We want to encourage visitors to explore the whole of Britain. With the Olympics less than 200 days away Google’s new initiative is exciting news. Millions of visitors plan their itinerary using Google maps and this additional information will act as a catalyst and inspire them to discover all that is wonderful about our great country.”

More about how it works

To access public transport information from a desktop, users should visit maps.google.co.uk, click “Get Directions”, and enter origin and destination locations. Then click the icon depicting a train to obtain public transport directions and easily viewable train routes on the map. Users can also tap into GPS on a mobile device and get directions from their current location to any given destination in Britain.

Customers will be given the best route by rail and full details including departure and arrival times, journey duration and which train company is operating the service. These details are also displayed on the map above the departure location, where the user can click through to thetrainline.com homepage to search for and book cheap tickets for their journey.

SAMSUNG AND VISITBRITAIN APPEAL TO UK VISITORS WITH THE ‘BEST OF BRITAIN’ APP

Top attraction and destination guides for a great British experience

LONDON, UK, 17 January 2012 – Today, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, a market leader in consumer electronics and Worldwide Olympic Partner

Global consumer tech device spending to surpass $1 trillion in 2012

 Latest forecast figures from GfK Digital World

Las Vegas, January 10, 2012 – The latest forecast figures from GfK Digital World, produced in partnership with Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), reveal global spending on consumer technology devices will surpass $1 trillion in 2012 for the first time, increasing by 5% over 2011’s figure of $993 billion.

On January 8th at the 2012 International CES, GfK Boutique Research and the Consumer Electronics Association discussed market trends within the Consumer Electronics (CE) industry. Using the latest global market data and forecasts from GfK Digital World, the presentation analyzed key product trends within a global market context; highlighting the importance of mobile connected devices as a key driver of spending growth. Additionally, the presentation addressed the importance of developing markets in driving growth in global spending.

“Despite slowing growth in developed markets, robust growth in emerging markets, particularly Emerging APAC* and Central & Eastern Europe**, has helped sustain global spending in 2011 at the relatively healthy level of 8%”, according to Steve Bambridge, Business Director for GfK Boutique Research.

The Smartphone sector to remain the key growth driver

GfK Digital World estimates and forecasts show that booming global demand for smartphones made these devices the key spending growth driver in 2011 and that this is set to continue in 2012. Additionally, sales of tablet PCs, which are estimated to have reached $39 billion this year, are predicted to show a strong double digit increase in 2012.

“Today, consumers from every corner of the globe crave the latest tech innovations,” said Steve Koenig, Director, Industry Analysis for Consumer Electronics Association. “Rising consumer demand for mobile connected devices underpins the growth in global retail sales of CE we’re projecting this year.”

* Emerging APAC comprises developing markets across the across the Asia Pacific region, including China and India

** Central & Eastern Europe includes Russia and other CIS countries

The retail sales data for this Consumer Electronics industry news comes from GfK market research.

Global industry study reveals how new technologies and social change will combine to transform travel by 2020

‘From Chaos to Collaboration’, a new research study commissioned by Amadeus, challenges the travel industry to overcome the uncertainty and stress of modern-day travel through the application of new technologies and innovations; Augmented reality, gamification*, intelligent passenger records, long range biometrics and the rise of the wellbeing agenda to drive change in the next decade and beyond, heralding a new era of industry and travel collaboration

Madrid, Spain, 11 January, 2012: A major new global study released today outlines how transformative technologies and evolving social values and trends will combine to establish a new era of collaborative travel over the next decade and beyond.

The report, ‘From chaos to collaboration: how transformative technologies will herald a new era in travel’, demands increased partnership across the travel industry, in turn removing the stress, uncertainty and chaos that is usually associated with traveling in the 21st Century, as well as providing much richer, deeper and more personal travel experiences at the same time.

Developed by The Futures Company, a leading global foresight and futures consultancy, and commissioned by Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, the report details a clear qualitative shift where service-users become partners rather than customers and where context is as important as the transaction. Of course at the heart of this new era of collaboration is a set of discrete ‘enabling’ technologies and innovations.

Based on extensive research and input from key industry experts – including technologists, leading travel industry representatives, social trends experts and futurists – as well as quantitative traveler research in Brazil, China, Russia, Spain, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States, the study explores six key areas in which future technology and innovation could be deployed.

Key findings

1. The next generation of experience: Travel is increasingly about depth rather than breadth of experience. Technologies such as augmented reality, gamification mechanisms and smart mobile devices will transform the travel experience
2. Automatic transit: Checking in could become the exception rather than the norm, with the rise of faster and more efficient identity management systems. Chips, biometrics, long range fingerprinting and near field communications (NFC) can be deployed in a more integrated way to fast-forward how people move around
3. Payment with memory:  All data on payments made before and during a trip will be integrated, acting as a digital memory of expenditure and activity for individuals, groups and travel industry operators. Intelligent passenger records, ‘digital breadcrumbs’ and contactless technologies could be used to personalize and bundle services, delivering higher value and more profitable relationships
4. Intelligent recommendation: As technologies make it easier for people to tag and review all aspects of travel experiences, travelers will be more influenced by peer groups and expert curators. The prospect of personal travel guides and mobile tour representatives will give travelers the tools they need to enrich their experience
5. Taking the stress out of travel: The wellbeing agenda and changing demographics will place greater emphasis on removing travel stress. Intelligent luggage tags and tickets will give greater reassurance while m-Health (mobile-Health) applications will allow travelers to manage and monitor their health and wellbeing as if they were at home
6. The business tourist: Continued emphasis on work-life balance and wellbeing at work may see the rise of the business tourist, which will demand speed and efficiency as well as a home-away-from-home

Eberhard Haag, Executive Vice President, Global Operations, Amadeus, said, “Over the next decade, there is a significant opportunity to redefine how the industry delivers and packages services to meet changing traveler needs. Key to this is more intelligent information exchange, a willingness to challenge the status quo and greater two-way partnership between travelers and travel players. We are committed to stimulating debate within the travel sector about how the world is changing, what travelers will increasingly expect and how the industry can evolve in a way that secures growth and profitability for our customers’ future success.”

Andrew Curry, Director and Co-author, The Futures Company, said, “We wanted to avoid making techno-centric assumptions about the future of travel – and painting a picture of flying cars and intelligent robots in a world that is otherwise unchanged from today. You can’t make an intelligent or realistic prediction about the effect of technology without considering infrastructure, systems and business models, as well as social values and trends. We hope that this study will challenge, provoke and stimulate thinking around how we will all be traveling in the future.”

To download a copy of the report, please visit: www.amadeus.com/blog  from January 11, 2012.

Amadeus launches Hotel Optimization Package for large travel agencies

Features an innovative business intelligence solution, Hotel Dynamic Saver, and integration of private and hotel aggregator content to finally enable ‘automation’ of all relevant hotel content at the point of sale

Madrid, Spain, January 2012: Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, today announces the launch of the Amadeus Hotel Optimization Package, a complete set of services and technologies for large travel agencies and travel management companies (TMCs) to increase competitiveness, grant efficient access to all relevant hotel content and save valuable time for their travel counselors.

The Amadeus Hotel Optimization Package portfolio of solutions is articulated under two areas, Profit Optimization – to help large travel agencies and TMCs save time and have more control over global hotel programs – and Content Optimization, converting Amadeus into a one-stop-shop for hotel content.

Some of the most prominent solutions of the Amadeus Hotel Optimization package are:

• Amadeus Hotel Dynamic Saver, a powerful multi-GDS Business Intelligence solution to help both large travel agencies and corporate travel managers maintain high savings standards and ensure hotel contract compliance. Key capabilities include Last Room Availability, identification of rate squatters and automatic future comparison of negotiated vs. public rates to ensure buyers get the best deal at all times. With Dynamic Saver, Amadeus has consistently identified average achievable savings of 10% on total hotel spend for travel agencies and corporations. For a typical Fortune 500 corporation this implies annual savings of up to USD1.6M[1] on hotels alone.
• Integration of hotel aggregator content: as the quickest path to integrating the ‘long tail’ of content, Amadeus has a strong pipeline of hotel aggregators that are being integrated across all its travel agency point-of-sale solutions. First to be integrated, in 2011, were Destinations of the World and Transhotel, representing a total inventory of over 50,000 hotels). Having this popular hotel content fully integrated into Amadeus saves time and money for travel agents and increases service levels for their clients.
• Amadeus LinkHotel,  a customized, fast-track service that enables quick, seamless integration of specific hotels that are requested by travel agencies and their corporate customers but are currently not bookable on the GDS (for instance, hotels close to remote manufacturing sites which typically would not show on these systems). Through this service Amadeus already connects over six thousand hotels to the GDS universe for real-time reservations.
  Michael Merrithew, Chairman, GSM Travel Management, said, “We are working in partnership with Amadeus on LinkHotel, which delivers exactly the kind of content that our customers frequently need. Without this initiative, TMCs would have struggled to find smaller or independent hotels. With Amadeus, these hotels are actively sought out and added to the GDS.”
• Additional components within the package include a powerful tool to drive contract compliance by driving smarter booking behavior at the point of sale.

“Current fragmented and labor-intensive processes across multiple hotel shopping systems are unsustainable both from a profit and customer service perspective. Travel agents are in need of greater visibility and control to efficiently source and sell more hotel content from disparate, multiple sources,” said Hugo Ehrnreich, Head of Hotel Distribution, Amadeus. “By working closely with our travel distributors, we have developed the Amadeus Hotel Optimization Package, an intuitive one-stop-shop that brings together content from different systems coupled with business intelligence tools to improve traveler care, drive down cost and enhance bottom-line performance”

Dubai flights go wireless

 Dubai is an emirate looking to the future but embracing its past. Buildings are futuristic as they rise ever closer to space, but inside design details are based on ancient Arabic styles of intricate latticework and symmetrical designs. Dubai has been carving out a real name for itself on the international travel scene too, both as a secure and successful place to do business and invest, but also as a major tourist attraction with massive investment into hosting horseracing, golf, film and tennis events.

Yet more money has been poured into long-term attractions such as the Ski Dubai indoor ski slope and Mall of the Emirates shopping centre, not to mention the plethora of luxury five-star hotels. At the same time, traditional markets are being encouraged and art and fashion shows are showcasing the regions history and culture.

In line with this modern, contemporary vision and Dubai’s desire to become a leading business destination, Emirates airlines have now launched its first in-flight Wi-Fi system. Flights to Dubai have never seemed quicker now that customers can spend their time surfing the internet of going about their daily business tasks. DialAFlight offer flights to Dubai with Emirates, so check to see if your flight will have access to in-flight Wi-Fi.

The service is being launched initially on 11 out of 19 A380 Air Buses, however, Emirates plan to roll out the new service throughout the entire fleet of 71 craft.

So what’s the cost? Prices for mobile devices are US$7.50 and US$15 for laptops and the data package is such that this will last on all flights to Dubai from London.

The changes mean business communications will be seamless; travelling from London to Dubai, a flight of some seven hours, can now be integrated into the typical business day. Communication black outs will be a thing of the past. This move will help cement Dubai’s credentials as a thriving business hub.

This new announcement from Emirates, comes shortly after Dubai International Airport launched four bilingual ‘virtual assistants’ to provide security and immigration information to the airport’s 50 million of so passengers travelling through the airport each year. It’s hoped the new assistants will decrease waiting times and improve operational efficiency. For more information, visit dubaiairport.com.

Prague Convention Bureau launched the CRM Database Tender

Prague Convention Bureau launched the CRM Database Tender. Commencing 2012 Prague Convention Bureau will focus on the development of its sales and marketing activities including website, media campaigns, destination & corporate brand, and for effectiveness of these activities is the CRM database system needed.

Director of the Prague Convention Bureau added: „To date Prague Convention Bureau has not had a database system in place; however it is now a key priority under the business plan to establish a CRM system for sales, marketing and industry partners (members program) to integrate with the proposed website and provide online sales opportunities for industry partners.”

Prague Convention Bureau primary focus is on the international business events market. Key market segments include:

• International & regional (Europe) association meetings
• International and regional (Europe) corporate meetings and incentives
• Geographic markets include Europe (UK, Germany, France, and Benelux) and North America (USA).

Requirements for the CRM system are for instance the ability to integrate with existing operational systems, outline capacity to translate CRM system in multiple languages, to link accounts & events with multiple sales representatives and suppliers, ability to create a project, ability in upload/download information between database system and web, to record industry financial contributions to Prague Convention Bureau, capacity to develop, tailor, edit and maintain mailing lists and others.

Prague Convention Bureau will accept the offers by February 15, 2012, 12 a.m.

“Prague Convention Bureau´s review committee will evaluate each proposal based on his/her understanding of how the proposal meets the project’s objectives and requirements. And although cost is a critical part, we consider the database design, functionality, ease of use, quality of service, staff and company professionalism, pro-active/creative thinking, customer commitment, reliability, innovation and references to be extremely important factors in making our decision. “

Pegasus Solutions and the Vacation Rental Managers Association to Transform Online Vacation Rental Market in 2012

Collaborative Vacation Rental Switch Will Offer Unprecedented Online Vacation Rental Shopping

DALLAS, LONDON, (January 5, 2012) – Pegasus Solutions and the Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) have partnered to launch a groundbreaking Vacation Rental Switch

Wi-Fi in the sky begins on 11 Emirates A380s

DUBAI, U.A.E., December 2011: Customers on a growing number of Emirates A380s can now surf, share, email, or tweet their way across the Emirates network as the airline launches Wi-Fi internet connectivity with leading industry service provider, OnAir.

Customers can access the service of the Wi-Fi in the sky onboard their flight using their Wi Fi enabled devices including smartphones, tablets and laptops. All customers have to do is open up their device’s wireless connections, log on to the OnAir network and follow the simple steps to access the internet. As part of a proving phase, customers onboard many A380 flights have been using the service for many months already as the system was installed and activated on the first few A380s last year.

“Emirates recognises that being connected inflight is increasingly important especially on our longer flights. Adding internet access is going to be a vital and ubiquitous part of any inflight experience, just as it is in everyday life on the ground,” said Patrick Brannelly, Vice President Corporate Communications Product, Publishing, Digital and Events. “As a result of our testing, we were able to learn a lot about what people like to do with the internet inflight and are pleased to be able to launch with very affordable pricing options.”

“Emirates has led the way in mobile phone use onboard with 91 aircraft currently allowing the service,” he added.  “We are obviously delighted to launch OnAir Wi-Fi on our A380 Aircraft and we will continue to invest in additional communications products across our entire fleet.”

Wi-Fi services will initially launch on 11 of 19 Emirates A380s currently in-service, with the system due to be installed both now and in the future across the entire fleet of 71 Emirates A380s on order. In addition to Wi-Fi, from mid-2012 all new Emirates A380s will be delivered with a full range of Wi-Fi, mobile phone and mobile data services.

“Emirates is continuously introducing the latest advanced technology to its customers for use on board out fleet. Making inflight connectivity available is a value added service that Emirates customers will highly enjoy; this is particularly true of our A380 fleet, since the aircraft is the epitome of modern airline technology,” added Adel Al Redha, Emirates Executive Vice President, Engineering and Operations. “With the OnAir product onboard, Emirates ensures our passengers will enjoy being connected in the sky on our most advanced aircraft.”

Price plans start at just US $7.50 for mobile devices and US $15 on laptops for generous data packages that allow plenty of internet at an accessible price. The US $7.50 package should be sufficient for the average Blackberry user to stay connected all the way from Dubai to Paris – a flight of over six and one half hours.

“The fact that Emirates has chosen OnAir connectivity services for its A380 fleet validates our strategy of developing a SwiftBroadband-based consistent global service. With the significant expansion of the Emirates A380 aircraft and global route network, it is important for passengers to access connectivity services anytime and anywhere,” said Ian Dawkins, CEO of OnAir.

Top 10 Free iPhone/iPad Meeting Apps of 2011

VANCOUVER, CANADA (December 28th, 2011) – Meeting planners are continuously searching for ways their attendees can become more efficient. Mobile meeting apps have proven to be effective tools in increasing productivity and providing greater mobility. With over 500,000 iPhone/iPad apps available, www.MeetingApps.com simplifies the selection process. Here are the top 10 must-have apps of 2011 for meeting attendees to consider. They’re all free, too!

10. Conference CO2 Calculator
http://meetingapps.com/detail/conference-co2-calculator-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-app-571.html
This app allows you to calculate the carbon costs of flying to and from your next international meeting or conference. It will help you work out which locations for your event might be less harmful to the environment than others, depending on where your delegates are travelling from.

9. iTranslate
http://meetingapps.com/detail/itranslate-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-app-131.html
Attending a meeting in a foreign country and need assistance with directions? By combining voice recognition, machine translation and voice output iTranslate can help you get where you need to be. This app translates words, phrases and even whole sentences into over 50 languages.

8. LucyPhone
http://meetingapps.com/detail/lucyphone-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-app-1221.html
Why wait on hold for Customer Service when you have LucyPhone? Just pick a company to call and give LucyPhone a number to call you back on. LucyPhone waits on hold for you and will call you back immediately and connect you both. Never wait on hold again!

7. Skyscanner
http://meetingapps.com/detail/skyscanner-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-app-1127.html
Ideal for finding a cheap flight, fast. Compare over 600 budget and scheduled airlines in seconds with the free Skyscanner iPhone/iPad app Version 2; saves money, saves time. Buy air tickets direct from airlines or travel agents and get the best deals. It’s simple, independent and finds the lowest fares with a few quick taps, wherever you want to fly.

6. iLeads
http://meetingapps.com/detail/ileads-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-app-337.html
The award winning iLeads is the tradeshow industry’s first mobile app for lead retrieval. It’s the most advanced lead capture app available. Now, you can capture sales leads anywhere, any time – on the tradeshow floor or at an event.

5. CardMunch
http://meetingapps.com/detail/cardmunch-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-app-1220.html
CardMunch converts business cards to address book contacts, and then adds them as connections on LinkedIn. Easily see LinkedIn profile information for your new contacts — and connect with them in a single click.

4. Dropbox
http://meetingapps.com/detail/dropbox-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-app-288.html
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. After you install Dropbox on your computer, any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all of your computers, your iPhone and iPad and even the Dropbox website! With the Dropbox app, you can take everything that matters to you on the go.

3. TripDeck
http://meetingapps.com/detail/tripdeck-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-app-1.html
TripDeck is considered one of the best itinerary organizers currently available. Manage hotel reservations, car rentals, flights, cruises, restaurants, meetings and more. It automatically syncs with your TripIt itineraries and gets easy access to check-in times, seat number, confirmation numbers, gate info, baggage claim, notes, integrated airline contact info and more.

2. Evernote
http://meetingapps.com/detail/evernote-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-app-291.html
Evernote turns the iPhone and iPad into an extension of your brain, helping you remember anything and everything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put it all into Evernote and watch as it instantly synchronizes from your iPhone to your Mac or Windows desktop.

1. Skype
http://meetingapps.com/detail/skype-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-app-392.html
With a very simple and user-friendly interface, call, video call and instant message anyone else on Skype for free with Skype for your iPhone or iPad.

CRN uses latest technology for staff training to maintain standards in tough times

As part of its commitment to staff training, the Congress Rental Network (CRN), a worldwide network of top-quality AV and Simultaneous Interpretation (SI) specialists, is using the latest online technology to improve the skills of its members’ employees for minimum cost.

As economic uncertainty continues around the world, CRN wanted to ensure staff at all of its member companies would benefit from ongoing training without incurring the cost penalty of sending people to Bosch headquarters in Holland. And by holding regular webinars, employees can improve their skills in all areas CRN operates in. It is the latest development in CRN’s commitment to training – it recently introduced a schedule that ensures all technicians are re-accredited every six months.

Panagiotis Podimatas from PC Podimatas in Greece, chairman of the CRN, says: “With more than 1,100 staff across the network we are arguably the world’s largest provider of technical services to the event industry. It is critical staff at member companies are trained to the highest standards in order that we continue to provide a first class service. The CRN has a history and reputation as the worldwide voice of SI and AV expertise and we are determined to maintain that position.”

CRN members are specialists in congress equipment hire, with experience in installing and operating state-of -the-art equipment for event organisers in countless venues around the world.

AIME partners with Ozaccom Plus to offer new booking portal

2 December 2011: Organisers of the Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME) have launched a partnership with Ozaccom Plus, allowing AIME attendees travelling to Melbourne to compare a range of preferable hotel and flight rates via a simplified online booking tool.

AIME attendees will now be able to easily book their flights and accommodation via a link on the AIME website. The site will display the preferable rates arranged for attendees by the AIME team as well as the best online rates being offered that day so that they can compare and book all on the one site.

Sally de Swart, Reed Travel Exhibitions Director for AIME, says the new initiative is an exciting step forward for AIME and is thrilled to be able to offer this easy service to attendees.

“Exhibitors and visitors to AIME 2012 will appreciate how easily they will be able to book their travel to Melbourne through the Ozaccom Plus system. It takes the guess work out of travel planning and means our attendees don’t need to spend their valuable time trawling different booking websites,” Ms de Swart said.

The site will include preferable rates from Australian Hotel Association (AHA) properties, as well as three additional properties, with more hotels to be added up until December.

Liza Watt, Principal of Ozaccom Plus, is excited about partnering with AIME to offer its new accommodation booking system which is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world.

“This approach for booking accommodation and travel to an exhibition of this nature has never been provided before, and as Reed Travel Exhibitions and Ozaccom Plus are both forward thinking organisations it is the perfect partnership to introduce Australia’s business tourism industry to the future of accommodation management for exhibitions and meetings,” Ms Watt said.

For more information visit www.aime.com.auand www.ozaccom.com.au

amiando launches free Resources Center for Event Organizers

Amiando, Europe’s leading online tool for event registration and social ticketing, will open its new Resources Center at http://www.amiando.com/resources.html

Event organizers will have free access to a broad range of information surrounding innovative Event Management. The new Resources Center provides event organizers with Best Practice examples and Case Studies, as well as numerous videos and Online Demos.

Once again, the business has placed particular emphasis on Social Media for Events: in addition to its established studies and reports, amiando is offering event organizers a brand-new Social Media Webinar. The entire content can be downloaded for free via amiando’s new Resources Center: http://www.amiando.com/resources.html

Consolidated Know-How, free of charge for Event Organizers
amiando’s new Resources Center offers event organizers a variety of relevant knowledge in one central place. Organizers of both business and entertainment events can access and download useful content, tips and Best Practices in various formats and absolutely free. The combination of Case Studies, Information Brochures, Videos and Online Demos contains up-to-date knowledge about innovative Event Management and Marketing supports organizers in managing their events more successfully.

“amiando‘s goal has always been to provide event organizers with tools that give their events a level of professionalism previously only reserved for large businesses and event agencies. We now offer event organizers all over the world highly relevant knowledge about topics such as Online Event Management and Event Marketing – free of charge and consolidated on one page,” says Dennis von Ferenczy, CMO of amiando.

Social Media for Event Organizers
amiando’s study on “Twitter for Events”, as well as its major 2011 Social Media and Events Report, already highlighted the company’s pioneering role in the Social Media domain. In addition to its existing published material, the business now offers a Social Media Webinar for event organizers, as well as a number of White Papers. This content has made amiando’s new Resources Center a major global information resource for event managers.

Berlin’s Own Google Institute

In Berlin the “Alexander von Humboldt Institute for

Parthen Meeting Services presents: Edison

This December, live at the EIBTM in Barcelona, Parthen Meeting Services will give a preview of its new online registration software called Edison. From the 29th of November until December 1st, you can drop by their stand (O280 & P240) and learn more about this online software package.

Jaap Bakker, Managing Director at Parthen Meeting Services, tells us what makes Edison different than other software packages. “It’s a unique, efficient and price attractive package, perfect for everyone who needs to organize an event. Easy to use, no strings attached and no hidden fees. The fact that Edison has its own currency, you buy and pay with credits, makes it different than other online registration software. And that’s only one feature of many more…”

Agile
In less than six months Parthen has developed the first part of Edison. They started with a blank sheet, a great knowledge and 22 years of experience in congress registration. They are working in a way called ‘agile development’, which is, in a nutshell, a method based on short cycles and incremental development, which allows them to deliver a new product/version every thirty days. Summarized: Edison will get even better over time and will fulfil the wishes and needs of the market.

HTML5
Edison is made with the latest HTML technology, HTML5. Many of you heard about HTML and some of you know how to use it. HTML makes it possible to view websites in an organized way so that your brain can understand it. It is technology, which helps us to design and produce user-friendly software. And Edison claims to be user-friendly; Parthen even tells us it’s ‘dummy proof’. Jaap Bakker: “The use of Edison does not require support. Support is available though, but you will be charged for it. The promise is that you will only pay once for support, which means that you never pay twice for a question asked earlier. We also log those questions and all answers.”

Presentations will be held at stand 0280, from 10:30 am until 15:30 pm.

“Eurospine 2011: engaging 4000 participants with the latest networking technology”

Milan, 25 November 2011:   Travelling from every corner of the world, 4.000 participants descended upon the pavilions of MICo, one of the leading European conference venues, during the month of October 2011.   Orthopaedic and neuro surgeons, neurologists, physiotherapists and other specialists came from 81 countries to attend EuroSpine 2011.  EuroSpine is an annual congress of the European scientific society dedicated to the prevention and the treatment of vertebral pathologies.  This annual congress is managed by AIM Group International.

Eurospine 2011 benefited from a wide variety of participation of sponsors and exhibitors.  140 companies of highest specialisation exhibited and contributed to make this congress “THE” European event in the field of the vertebral surgery.   In addition, the communication channels during the conference utilised the latest technologies and modern methods of reaching the conference attendees.   Through an active participation on Twitter from the attendees themselves and a continuous flow of information leading, during and following the conference, the participants, speakers and exhibitors were highly enthusiastic about the enormous networking and learning opportunities that these communication activities provided for them.

In addition, an application for smartphones, providing all information, scientific program and videos has been made available to all participants and aided to increase the participation to the scientific session, the exchange of the experience and the sense of community.   This result has been achieved also with the help of audience response systems during the interactive sessions.

An up-to-date information about the latest trends of research and clinical practice was provided by “Spine Times”, the conference’s daily newspaper available both on-line and printed.

First Choice Releases ‘Out Like a Light’ Infographic

New infographic commissioned by First Choice explores the

EIBTM DELIVERS FIRST FULL SHOW EVENT APP

EIBTM (www.eibtm.com) have launched their first full show EIBTM Event APP, which has been designed to meet the individual needs of all EIBTM attendees. The APP will contain all exhibitor and show information, venue maps and floor plan, a guide to the city of Barcelona and direct links to all social media portals.

The EIBTM APP sponsored by Lufthansa German Airlines will also allow users to build their event itinerary with the event planner tool. It will be continually updated before and during EIBTM with a full ‘What’s on’ guide, essential information, exhibitor listings, speaker profiles and the latest show photos.

The APP is available to download free of charge and will be a tool that all attendees can use to make the most from the EIBTM event, pre show, onsite at the show and post-show. To download now please visit www.eibtm.com/APP

Gudrun Gorner, Corporate Communications Executive, Lufthansa German Airlines commented: “We are very proud to be sponsors of the new EIBTM APP. It’s a fantastic tool for everyone attending the show and we feel that it will make a real difference – being able to access all of the latest information instantly.”

Trade Visitor registration for EIBTM 2011 is available through the App or at www.eibtm.com/register Pre-registering is free of charge and will save the onsite entry fee of €25. Benefits of pre-registering include: Fast track entry saving you valuable time queuing, flexibility to arrange your own schedule, discounted travel and accommodation and pre-show information and updates allowing you to effectively plan your visit.

EIBTM 2011 takes place 29^th November – 1^st December 2011, Barcelona.

Check-in service via Skype

Estonian Air is among the first airlines in the world that will offer in cooperation with Moscow Sheremetyevo airport check-in service via Skype video call. The new sevice is currently in the testing stage.

The Internet-based video call service enables passengers to call from their Skype account, whether being home or office, to Moscow Sheremetyevo airport by using its “svo_checkin” Skype username. During a video call, passengers will be asked to state their last name, flight details and to display their passport. In addition, they may print out their boarding pass at the end of the session.

„We are very pleased to be among these airlines which in cooperation with Moscow Sheremetyevo airport introduces a new innovative service and thus making the check-in procedure easier,“ said Rauno Parras, the Commercial Manager of Estonian Air. “We plan to analyse and see how our customers receive it and decide whether we expand the service to other airports as well,” added Parras.

Rauno Parras pointed out that checking in via Skype provides more personal touch which many airline customers appreciate. The Skype check-in service is like a traditional check-in procedure but what differs is that you can do it at home, work or wherever you have a possibility to use Skype.

In addition to the new video flight check-in via Skype and traditional check-in, Estonian Air passengers are using internet check-in or check-in kiosks. Within last two years, the amount of people using internet check-in or check-in kiosk has risen twice: in 2009 only 11.5% of travellers were using the possibility, a year later the amount was 19%, and this summer already 21%.
37.5% of all passengers travelling to Estonia are using self services. The most active check-in kiosk users are in Scandinavia, were 70% of all passengers are using them.

Destinations of the World Chooses Pegasus to Expand Distribution

Leading Global Wholesaler Opts for UltraDirect Technology

SCOTTSDALE, DALLAS and LONDON (November 15, 2011) – Leading global travel industry wholesaler, Destinations of the World (DOTW), has reached an agreement with Pegasus Solutions for UltraDirect® to direct connect to the largest collection of electronically bookable hotels in the world.

With more than 150,000 travel agent customers worldwide in more than 1,200 cities, DOTW has added Pegasus’ industry leading UltraDirect technology to provide real-time access to updated rates and inventory for tens of thousands of hotels worldwide through the Pegasus switch. Specifically, Pegasus Solutions will facilitate net rate connectivity between DOTW and several of their hotel suppliers. Currently, Pegasus’ UltraDirect connects to approximately 90,000 hotels worldwide, many of which contract net rates with DOTW.

Keith Fernandez, group managing director for DOTW required a solution that incorporated access to hotel chain customers of DOTW, rate options, rich content and multi-lingual access. Fernandez said, “DOTW and Pegasus are delighted to have found a mutually beneficial business platform from which to work. Pegasus not only offers the reliability and functionality we expect from a distribution partner, but they also support key features that further benefit both our customers and suppliers, especially the rich content and multi-lingual access.”

DOTW operates a network of 21 offices in 16 countries worldwide, which includes more than 400 multilingual staff. Offering powerful search and booking capabilities, UltraDirect provides real-time and multi-lingual access to central reservation system (CRS) information for the complete network. It also connects staff to detailed property data and images from Pegasus’ Hotel Content Database, the world’s largest repository of hotel descriptive content.

“It makes sense for a leading provider like DOTW to choose Pegasus for connectivity given our unrivaled offering of hotel rates, availability and descriptive content,” added Tom Gallagher, executive vice president, revenue generation for Pegasus Solutions. “This agreement also benefits our hotel customers as it will increase their booking opportunities.”

Fun and games are the future for online travel marketing

The global travel industry will benefit from interest in online and social network-based games, reveals the WTM Global Trends Report 2011, released today (Monday 7 November) at World Travel Market.

Brits realise the need to switch off

Half OF UK holidaymakers are ignoring their smartphone while away, according to the World Travel Market 2011 Industry Report, released today.

More than 1,000 Brits who had taken a holiday of at least seven days holiday were polled for the survey, of which 52% said that they did not use their smartphone.

Roaming charges were the main reason for not using phones overseas, despite attempts by mobile network providers to market international deals and offers.

However, a further 39% said that smartphones were ignored “because there are alternative things to fill my time”.

There is a hardcore of travellers who take their UK phone use patterns overseas. Despite the roaming charges, a significant minority said that they accessed apps (16%), browsed the web generally (15%) or even posted directly onto social media sites (12%).

The mobile industry should also be aware the market for new phones is not a widespread as thought, with only one-third (37%) of the total sample having bought a new smartphone or mobile device over the past twelve months. One in five said their current device does not access the web.

Furthermore, the travel industry needs to reassess whether consumers’ current interest in mobile is as great as imagined. Only 14% accessed travel websites via their mobiles while researching their 2011 break, with 3% only making a booking. Only 9% said they would consider booking their break next year via their phone.

Over the medium term, there is the possibility for significant growth. Nearly three in ten (28%) said that they would considering booking from a phone, although this still leaves more than seven out of ten with no interest in transacting this way.

Reed Travel Exhibitions Director World Travel Market Fiona Jeffery said; “The findings about mobile are similar to our revelations about social media. Mobile is not as prevalent as imagined, but the potential for growth over the next five years is still strong. And it would be dangerous to ignore the minority of travellers who want to use their smartphones overseas.”

“It is also reassuring that at least half of the UK travellers are deciding their holidays should be free from the temptation to keep in touch with the office and are actively deciding not to check their emails or text friends at home,” Jeffery added.

Facebook will establish their first European data centre in the town of Luleå in Swedish Lapland

The data centre will be the largest of its kind in Europe, with an area of 84,000 square meters which is equivalent to more than 11 soccer fields. The construction will take place in three phases and when completed it will consist of three server rooms. The first should be operational in one year and the whole plant should be completed by 2014. Much of the traffic from Facebook’s global 800 million users will be handled at the new data centre in Swedish Lapland.

Next Generation Telecoms APAC Summit 2011 Fosters Innovation for Industry Leading Executives

Next Generation Telecoms APAC, which took place from 20th – 22nd September the Golden Palm Tree Resort & Spa, Kuala Lumpur, provided leading executives the chance to establish strong business relationships, which will see the start of many innovative and exciting new ventures.

The summit saw senior level executives from telecom companies across APAC meet to discuss objectives such as convergence, integration, and management in a relaxed and vibrant environment. Speakers included leading industry professionals such as Martijn Blanken, COO of Telstra; Chris Lewis, Group VP, International Telecoms and Networking, IDC; and Roger Lienert, GM Networking Engineering, Vivid Wireless. Leading telecoms companies including Huawei, Oracle, and F-Secure sponsored the event.

Technology executives had ample opportunity to network with peers. Biloliddin Salakhiddin of Excell said, “The NGT summit provided a great opportunity into some of the key challenges the industry faces [...] The best way to learn is from one another, and it’s easier when the environment is relaxed and professional.”

As well as comprehensive workshops, the summit involved panel discussions offering executives moderated, peer-led discussions on major industry issues. One-to-one meetings gave delegates the chance to meet with business analysts and analyst partners to discuss strategy and technology demands for a rapidly evolving industry.

A total of 16 workshops covered a range of exciting and pressing topics for the telecommunications industry. Topics included cloud computing, WiMAX, 3G and LTE, risk management, customer experience, video streaming, network profitability, and more.

Nick York, Summit Director Asia at GDS International, the global business event company behind NGT APAC, says, “We have always been proud of the quality of our summits, but this years’ Next Generation Telecoms APAC Summit was one of our best yet. It is very rewarding to know that our events provide the environment for executives to meet and build valuable relationships that will lead to many exciting new ventures and innovations.”

See what the delegates had to see about the event at http://www.ngtsummitapac.com/ .

Internet Now Available in Majority of World’s Major Subway Systems

GENEVA, November 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ –

New Cities Foundation Study Shows 60% of Subways Have Internet Access Underground

A comprehensive new survey of global subway systems shows that passengers on most of the world’s large underground systems can access the wireless Internet when they travel. This survey, conducted in October 2011, covers 121 global cities of more than 750,000 people with an underground subway or metro system. Access to the mobile Internet is an essential component of the smart in ‘smart city’: this is how people connect to one another and to the services they need. NCF chose to focus on commuting because this is a significant part of most people’s day in big cities but one where there is a clear divide between on and offline.

The study shows the highest availability of mobile data services is in South Korea and China, where users can connect to the Internet in 100 % of major subway systems. Overall, Asian commuters can go online in 84 % of major subways, compared to 56 % in the EU and 41% in the US and Canada. The lowest rate is in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, at 25%.

According to Mathieu Lefevre, Executive Director of the NCF, ‘This study helps paint a new map of the world, where technological divides are not where you think. For instance, it says a lot that Asian commuters can check their email and read the news in more than 80 % of the region’s subway systems, compared to just half than in North America.’

To view the full survey results, please visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Cities-Foundation/136152139746668 or our website http://www.newcitiesfoundation.org/index.php/online-and-underground/

Skyscanner Flies Into the Cloud With iomart Hosting

GLASGOW, Scotland, October 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ – Europe’s cheap flights specialist uses fully virtualised private cloud

iomart Hosting, one of the UK’s leading cloud computing and managed hosting providers, has taken Skyscanner, Europe’s leading travel search website, into the cloud to support its objective of becoming the number one flight search engine in the world.

Skyscanner specialises in cheap flights and deals on over 600 airlines, as well as prices for car hire and hotels. Visits to the Skyscanner website have increased year on year to the point where over 14 million people use it every month. To cope with this huge demand, Skyscanner needed cloud hosting backed by the most powerful servers. It turned to iomart Hosting.

Craig Parker, Director of IT at Skyscanner, explains: “It’s vital that the Skyscanner flight search engine is always available because people are accessing it from many different countries at all times of the day and night. iomart Hosting’s support has allowed us to scale up as fast as possible, while still allowing us to serve our millions of customers in a professional, responsive and personal manner.”

iomart Hosting supports the entire global portfolio of Skyscanner domains, which range from Spanish (Skyscanner.es) to Japanese (Skyscanner.jp) and Korean (Skyscanner.kr). This is all housed in a private cloud, backed by an enterprise grade SAN solution.

Phil Dalbeck, Infrastructure Architect at Skyscanner, explains: “Migrating from a traditional physical infrastructure platform to a fully virtualised private cloud provides the business agility Skyscanner needs to support our exceptional growth. Capacity planning is no longer the headache it once was, and the business can now expect to see additional server resources deployed within minutes rather than weeks.”

The iomart Hosting team helped Skyscanner’s technical team deploy a cutting-edge VMware installation, with powerful custom built servers providing N+1 resilience and high performance. The database layer comprises a number of Fusion-IO equipped SQL Servers delivering previously unattainable I/O performance.”

Phil Dalbeck adds: “Our move to FusionIO completely redefined the capabilities of our presentation database systems. Working with a hosting partner prepared to work with us in deploying such cutting-edge technology is vital to our success.”

Sarah Haran, managing director of iomart Hosting, says: “Skyscanner demanded high performance and availability plus the ability to react quickly to market demands by the provision of additional resources. iomart Hosting provided consultation and benchmarking services, procured cutting edge hardware which we installed in our fully-owned high-spec data centres, ensuring that Skyscanner and its millions of customers get the best service possible.”

Travel and Online Technology region prepares for more visitors and buyers

World Travel Market, the leading event for the global travel industry, reveals that the number of pre-registered visitors interested in technology and online travel for WTM 2011 is already 13% up on the previous year.

With a week to go until the event launches on Monday 7 November, the improvement on last year is likely to increase further.

The Travel and Online Technology (TOT) region is been a key focus for WTM 2011. This year the exhibition floorspace devoted to the region is more than 40% larger than last year.

Significantly, around two-thirds of pre-registered visitors interested in Technology said they were interested in buying technology from exhibitors. This represents a 90% increase on WTM 2010, suggesting TOT exhibitors will be conducting a large amount of business this year.

Overall WTM 2010 generated a massive £1,425 million in industry deals – a 25% increase on 2009’s £1,139 million.

World Travel Market TOT Sales Manager Jo Marshall said: “The interest in this year’s Technology and Online Travel region from pre-registered visitors and potential buyers strengthens WTM’s position as the leading global event for doing business. WTM 2011 really does mean technology!”

New exhibitors include Triometric, e-GDS, Ixaris Systems, Spa Travel, FACT-Finder Travel, TravelSim and Thermeon Worldwide.

The important hospitality sector is represented by IDeaS Revenue Solutions, EZYield, FastBooking, Vertical Booking, RateTiger – eRevMax, Bookassist, Guestline, Xn Hotel Systems, Globekey, hotel.info, RateGain, CRS Bookings, ReviewPro, SiteMinder, ParityRate and TrustYou.

There will be two new pavilions within the TOT section, one dedicated to Mobile Technology, with exhibitors including AppiHolidays, AQ2 and Ecocarrier, the other for New Exhibitiors to the event – including Fortune Cookie, SustainIT Solutions, TigerBay Software, Rezopia and Grupo1000 Lugares – who is also the pavilion’s sponsor.

The focus spreads into the content and seminar programme, where a number of high profile speakers from leading brands will be taking the stage throughout the four-day event. The Tuesday TOT seminar programme has been moved to the larger Platinum Suite rooms to cope with demand.

Reed Travel Exhibitions Director World Travel Market Simon Press said: “I’m delighted with the increase in both Technology and Online Travel exhibitors and those visitors interested in TOT region for WTM 2011.

“The exhibition floor space for TOT has increased by more than 40% with lots of business poised to be conducted in the region at WTM 2011. With almost 50 New Exhibitors there are lots of exhibitors for those buyers interested in technology to do business with.”