The success of the EasyRes product is demon-
`strated by the fact that 90 per Cent of UK travel
`agents, including many of the large multiples, use
`EasyRes regularly. ‘How can it be free?‘,
`I hear
`you ask. The answer is that like GDSS, Reed Travel
`Group derives its revenue from the participating
`airlines and not from the travel agents. For every
`segment,
`i.e. for every city pair, sector or leg,
`booked via EasyRes, the airline pays Reed Travel
`Group a booking fee. This is what goes to cover
`the operating costs of the system and contributes
`towards generating a profit for the Reed Travel
`Group business.
`EasyRes started out as a simple single class
`system with just three airlines connected to its
`central switch. Now, it is a multi-class system with
`more than 45 scheduled airlines bookable via
`
`videotex. The way this growth occurred is inter-
`esting and is I think worth a closer look. In ‘I989,
`a major European airline, whose telephone sales
`had become ‘overloaded’ as a result of its fierce
`
`competition with charter carriers then operating
`on routes between the UK and its major home
`cities, took the decision to endorse EasyRes as the
`preferred way for leisure travel agents to make
`bookings on these services. It positively discour-
`aged these agents from using the telephone. So,
`while business travel agents could still use GDSS
`and members of the general public could still tele-
`phone their reservations’ centres, all other book-
`ings rapidly started to come through EasyRes. This
`allowed the airline to cut down the size — and,
`therefore,
`the cost — of its manual reservations
`operation in the UK. Following its lead, several
`other major European airlines have adopted this
`policy. The result is that agents are encouraged to
`utilize technology whenever possible, thus reducing
`low—yield reservations telephone calls.
`In February 1993, EasyRes Plus was launched.
`This offered several significant enhancements which
`included: (a) last seat availability, (b) up to seven
`seats bookable in one transaction,
`(C) the inclu-
`sion of transfer connections, and (cl) display of
`the airline’s own record locator on completion
`of a PNR (see Chapter 4, Distribution Systems,
`for more information on these terms).
`In other
`words, EasyRes Plus offered agents true ‘last seat’
`availability on the airlines connected to it. This is
`effected by a direct computer link between EasyRes
`
`294 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR TRAVEL AND TOURISM
`
`and the airlines’ host reservation systems enabling
`EasyRes to see exactly the same availability as the
`airlines‘ own reservations staff.
`
`For smaller airlines that do not have the direct
`
`link, availability is maintained on EasyRes through
`what is known as Availability Status (AVS) mess-
`aging, which enables airlines to control what flights
`and booking classes they wish to sell via EasyRes
`in a manner identical
`to the way they do on a
`CRS. An AVS message is a message originated and
`sent by an airline when there are only four seats
`remaining on a flight. When this happens, the flight
`obviously is becoming full and each reservation is
`checked on-line before being booked. So, EasyRes
`was beginning to look much more like a true CRS
`in terms of booking features but with the advant-
`age that it was much simpler to use. Although the
`list of participating airlines is impressive, there is
`one airline in particular that is missing. British
`Airways has its own viewdata booking system for
`its own product, which is called BALink. This is a
`system very similar to EasyRes.
`One of the key features of EasyRes, which
`makes it so attractive to leisure travel agents,
`is
`the fare-driven display. The agent always sees the
`cheapest fare that meets the client’s requirements,
`matched with real availability, which can then
`be booked if required. This is no trivial task to
`provide by means of an automated system. To
`give you an idea of what is involved in provid-
`ing a fare-driven display,
`let me give a quick
`explanation of the processing steps that support
`this function.
`
`First, Reed Travel Group needs to store all
`the latest fares on all routes for all the airlines
`
`participating in EasyRes. This consists of several
`thousand fares, which are stored on Reed’s large
`main-frame data base. This data base is one of the
`
`most up-to-date sources of fares information in the
`world and is current to within a matter of hours.
`
`Then, the system has to look at what the agent
`has keyed in on the ‘availability request’ screen
`and build a table of the fares on that route for all
`
`airlines that fly that route. The airline reservation
`systems, which are connected to EasyRes by high
`speed data lines, are contacted. Their availability
`for the route in question is retrieved and stored
`in the EasyRes main-frame computer. The system
`then associates the appropriate fare with each flight
`
`Petitioners‘ Exhibit 1021, Page 301
`
`

`
`that is available. The resulting information is sorted
`into sequence, with the lowest fare first and the
`most expensive one last. The resulting informa-
`tion is sent to the travel agent’s videotex screen
`and this is what is called a ‘fare-driven’ display.
`In summary then, the major steps are:
`
`9":"P°.Nt“
`
`Agent requests a fare-led display.
`The system displays the route.
`The agent selects the airline.
`The system checks outward and return avail-
`ability and does a fares check.
`The system matches the information and con-
`structs a composite display.
`
`EasyRes includes access to airline, airport and
`destination information and, besides air and hotel,
`also provides access to car rental systems. It sup-
`ports every ticket type from domestic shuttle to
`transatlantic flights, full fare to consolidations and
`also special offers. Agents are notified automatic-
`ally through the system of any airline schedule
`changes and, through a link to Sabre, can take
`advantage of automated ticketing. The EasyRes
`system has the word ‘easy’ in its title because that
`is just what it
`is like to use — easy. An airline
`booking, for example, may be made using just six
`simple screens. This is how you would use EasyRes
`to make a flight booking:
`
`Chapter 1). Every time you request a display
`such as this, the sequence of the airlines dis-
`played on the screen will probably be different.
`Thus, there is no bias with EasyRes.
`0 Select flight The system responds with a list
`of all available flights and asks you to choose
`‘All Fares’ or, expand the details of selected
`flights. If ‘All Fates’ is selected, a list of all avail-
`able fares on a particular flight combination is
`displayed, along with the key restrictions of each
`fare. Agents, on selection of the fare of their
`choice, will then be taken automatically into
`‘display flight’ details, as described below.
`0 Display flight details The expanded flight
`details are now displayed. This shows all the
`details of the flight, including the currency of
`the fare, restrictions, other charges, minimum
`check-in times and baggage allowances. At this
`stage, the flight can be booked or the ‘All Fares’
`option can be selected as described above.
`0 Enter passenger details Having selected the
`booking option, a screen is presented that asks
`for the passenger’s details to be entered. Once
`this has been done the flight is booked and the
`airline’s booking locator or PNR reference code
`is displayed on the screen (Fig. 6.14).
`
`0 Access the network Use a videotex terminal
`or PC with viewdata emulation to access one
`
`It is as simple as that. There are just one or
`two things to point out, though. First, although
`you can retrieve a previous booking for display
`purposes, you cannot change a booking. The only
`way to accomplish this is to cancel the booking and
`of the travel networks, e.g. ATSCT or Imminus.
`start all over again; and, it must be noted, that
`Sign—on to the EasyRes system using your
`under half of the participating airlines support
`agency identification and password.
`cancellation as a function on EasyRes. So, if the
`0 Choose, from main menu From the EasyRes
`airline does not have a cancellation facility, then
`main menu screen, select Option No.
`1 (flight
`you would need to telephone the airline to cancel
`booking).
`the booking before starting to re-input the new one.
`0 Specify requirements The system will present
`Then, there is the need, eventually, to produce a
`you with a screen that needs completing as with
`ticket. EasyRes does not have its own automated
`a form. You will need to enter the departure
`airline ticketing facility but provides one through
`and destination airports/resorts and the dates
`its link to Sabre. Ticketing options are: (a) write
`of travel. Choose ‘Availability’ or ‘All Fares’
`the ticket manually, (b) queue the booking to a
`options.
`ticketing agent using Sabre via EasyRes’ link to
`0 Select airline Next, EasyRes will display a list
`Sabre, or (c)
`if your agency has another GDS —
`of airlines that you may check for availability
`perhaps in the business travel department — then
`on the route you have already specified. It is
`you could create a ‘ghost PNR’ and use that to
`interesting to note that this display is shown
`print the ticket. It should be noted that unless
`in random sequence by airlines in order to com-
`the ghost PNR is cancelled after ticketing, it will
`ply with guidelines on non-biased displays (see
`
`
`NETWORKS 295
`
`Petitioners‘ Exhibit 1021, Page 302
`
`

`
`Petitioners‘ Exhibit 1021, Page 303
`
` 303
`
`Petitioners' Exhibit 1021, Page
`
`

`
`0 Agent booking analysis by county This shows
`bookings by county for every ABTA travel
`agency that has accessed EasyRes. Any time-
`span may be requested, along with year—to-date
`figures.
`0 Booking analysis A detailed month-by-month
`analysis of bookings by route and class.
`0 Summary booking analysis A one—page month-
`by-month summary of the booking analysis,
`highlighting both ‘through’ and ‘connecting’
`flights.
`
`The EasyRes system is available free of charge to
`any UK ABTA travel agent with a videotex ter-
`minal. The system is distributed via the main UK
`VANS,
`i.e. AT&T and lmminus. The EasyRes
`system is connected to each of these networks via
`high speed data lines. At the core of the EasyRes
`system is a powerful Amdahl main-frame com-
`puter capable of performing 56 MIPS. This main-
`frame is itself connected to each of the participating
`airlines’ reservation systems. There are ambitious
`plans to develop EasyRes further. Under considera-
`tion, for example, are a new fare and availability
`search that will make it even easier to find the
`
`cheapest fare available on a route, and an Internet
`interface.
`
`Worldspan
`Worldspan supports access to its GDS via view-
`data technology, using a product called Worldspan
`View. This allows travel agents who cannot justify
`the expense and training overhead required of a
`dedicated GDS system to nevertheless gain access
`to many of the productivity and customer service
`advantages of GDS technology, using their exist-
`ing equipment. This approach is perfectly suitable
`for those agencies that typically generate a relat-
`ively low volume of scheduled air bookings.
`With Worldspan View, either a viewdata terminal
`or a PC may be used as the primary workstation for
`accessing the Worldspan network. However, it is
`not the native GDS system, along with all its rather
`complex keyboard entries and associated screen dis-
`plays, that needs to be learned. Instead, Worldspaii
`has developed a special
`interface for viewdata
`users. This guides them through the enquiry, book-
`ing and ticketing processes using a specially devel-
`oped and simplified user—system interface. This
`
`interface, although somewhat slower and less func-
`tionally rich than the native Worldspan system,
`allows the travel agents to use the GDS in a similar
`way to other viewdata host systems.
`Access to Worldspan View may be either
`directly into the Worldspan network or via the
`AT&T viewdata network. Access via AT&T is
`
`achieved in two alternative ways: (a) dial-up - the
`users dial into the AT&T network and log-on in
`the normal way using their pre-assigned user—IDs
`and passwords, or (b) direct connect — the users
`do not have to dial into AT8(T and simply log—on
`as normal. Once logged-on, Worldspan View may
`be accessed by selecting the WSP# host service
`from the AT&T network main menu.
`
`Railtrak
`
`Railtrak is a simple viewdata—based train reserva-
`tion and information system provided by British
`Rail. The technology is very similar to that used
`throughout the tour operators as described above.
`Travel agents access the system using a simple
`viewdata terminal. The viewdata terminal in the
`
`travel agent’s office dials into the agent’s chosen
`videotex network. By selecting BRL for British
`Rail, the network connects the agent’s viewdata
`terminal to a front-end British Rail videotex com-
`
`puter. This computer acts as an interface between
`the viewdata technology and the British Rail main-
`frame computer in Nottingham. This interface
`computer translates and converts from the main-
`frame screens into viewdata screens and vice versa.
`
`Figure 6.15 The GTI concept
`
`
`
`Videotex networks
`
`[e.g. lstel, Fastrak, etc.)
`
`
`
`
`NETWORKS 297
`
`Petitioners‘ Exhibit 1021, Page 304
`
`

`
`Once a connection is made, the Railtrak system
`offers the agent some useful facilities, which I have
`described in a little more detail as follows:
`
`7.
`
`If you select full payment enter your reference,
`telephone number and BK to continue. Other-
`wise enter credit card details in addition to
`
`Seat reservation.
`
`Sleeper reservation.
`Boat train reservations.
`International reservations.
`
`Motorail availability.
`Help.
`Mailbox.
`Information.
`Reservation sales.
`
`Training system.
`Password control.
`
`The Railtrak system is a useful facility that is aimed
`at travel agents who have a fairly low volume of
`British Rail business. For the higher volume agents,
`there are several other systems that are probably
`more relevant. The main one being the main—frame
`rail system distributed via the GDSs (see Chapter
`3 for more details).
`
`Hotels
`
`Utell may be accessed via ATSCT or Imminus. A
`videotex front—end computer system acts as an
`interface between Utell’s system and each of these
`videotex VANS. The end—pr0duct that the travel
`agent sees is branded as a Utell International ser-
`vice within the EasyRes system offered by Reed
`Travel (see previous section on Reed Travel). This
`is called Hotel Space. Both these networks access
`the same core Utell system. Making a reservation
`via a videotex system couldn’t be easier. The whole
`process simply consists of the following steps:
`
`Sign on and select the HotelSpace main menu.
`Enter client’s name, arrival date and either the
`number of nights required or the departure
`date. Enter the city only.
`Select the required location of the hotel from
`a list presented by the system.
`Select the hotel required from a list presented
`by the system.
`Enter the number of rooms required and indic-
`ate via the BK entry that you wish to make a
`booking.
`Enter any special requests or messages. Select
`your preferred payment method.
`
`298 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR TRAVEL AND TOURISM
`
`reference and telephone number.
`The booking is now confirmed and the screen
`can be printed to form a hard—copy record for
`your files. An entry of SS will provide further
`information on commission collection.
`
`THE PROBLEM WITH VIEWDATA
`
`The basic problem with viewdata is that it is a
`redundant technology. However, because most tour
`operators have viewdata reservations capabilities
`and there are several thousand viewdata sets in
`
`there is an
`travel agencies around the country,
`enormous force of inertia that will resist any change
`of technologies in the area of leisure travel. Hav-
`ing said this,
`there are some pretty substantial
`pressures building up from a variety of interested
`parties for a change. Let’s consider some of these
`from the viewpoints of the players involved:
`
`0 The travel agent’s View Although viewdata
`is easy to use and cheap, it is rather cumber-
`some and slow. It also clearly looks outdated
`compared with the new graphics—based PCs
`that we all see around us nearly every day.
`Another factor is the spread of PCs among
`travel agents for a variety of applications such
`as GDSs; general office automation, i.e. word
`processing, electronic mail and spreadsheets;
`and back—office systems. Finally, the travel agent
`is faced with having to become familiar with
`a wide range of different viewdata systems as
`well as other technologies. Each system is to a
`certain extent different and this is what causes
`
`the problems.
`The tour operators’ view Tour operators
`would dearly like to get out of viewdata techno-
`logy but they have been hoist by their own
`petard, so to speak. Although they would like
`to print some form of charter ticket or holiday
`voucher for their products at the point—of—sale,
`the problem is that you can’t easily do this
`with viewdata unless they use a product like
`RESCON (see TTI in Chapter 1). Then there
`is the processing burden that the tour operators
`carry on their own systems in order to support
`
` 305
`
`Petitioners' Exhibit 1021, Page
`
`

`
`interactive viewdata for travel agents. If only
`all travel agents had PCs then a great deal of
`this processing could be off—loaded onto them
`with the consequent reduction in technology
`overhead costs at the tour operators’ end.
`0 The airline CRS’s View One of the lessons
`learnt by the airlines from the recession was
`that it is not a good idea to be over reliant on
`the business travel sector of the market. It was
`
`precisely this sector that went belly up during
`the recession when companies cut back ruth-
`lessly on travel and entertainment. The GDSS
`need a low cost point—of-sale workstation that
`will be acceptable to leisure travel agents in
`terms of cost and functionality.
`
`Now if only the travel agent were to have a PC
`already on the premises. . .I hope that by now
`you are detecting a common wish running through
`the minds of the management of the tour com-
`panies and the airline GDSS. In the case of the
`GDSs, a PC in the agency would allow the leisure
`travel agent to use the sophisticated functional-
`ity enjoyed by the business travel agent. The GDS
`would only have one system to support, thus min-
`imizing ongoing support costs and improving cus-
`tomer service. One of the key technologies that
`will be instrumental in accelerating the shift from
`videotex to PC—based systems throughout the travel
`industry, is to be found in the services offered by
`today’s communications networks.
`
`Communication networks
`
`Telecommunications is a vast subject and quite a
`complex one too. Besides that,
`it is developing
`and changing as fast, if not faster, than the com-
`puter technologies that we hear about so much.
`Not only is the technology changing rapidly but
`the services are evolving at an ever increasing pace.
`It seems that the telecommunications marketing
`people are becoming extremely innovative. So much
`so that there is a real abundance of different ways
`to communicate with another party across the
`country or indeed the world. These new services
`offer a variety of communications methods and
`more importantly from a business persons view-
`point a variety of tariff structures.
`
`Nowhere is the subject of telecommunications
`more important than in the travel services indus-
`try. This industry is seen by telecommunications
`companies as one of the most significant areas for
`future growth. So,
`it
`is no wonder that in the
`travel agency market, there are a number of sup-
`pliers offering some labour saving and sophisticated
`methods of communicating with travel principals
`around the world. Not just around the world either.
`Even across the UK there are a variety of methods
`that may be used to Contact airlines, tour com-
`panies, hotels or even other travel agents. There
`are now several VANs that offer users, small or
`large, direct access to travel booking and informa-
`tion systems.
`This chapter is devoted to these VANS and
`telecommunications suppliers. Naturally I have
`focused on those VANs that provide specialized
`services to the travel trade. But once again, as for
`the preceding chapters, the following should not
`be taken as any kind of a survey or a recom-
`mended list of telecommunications suppliers. My
`objective in presenting these services is to give
`you an idea of what is available on the market at
`present and to help you understand the kinds of
`things you can do with a good communications
`network.
`
`As I mentioned before, the UK telecommun-
`ications infrastructure was created by BT. But in
`the new competitive environmepg in which we find
`ourselves, BT is required to supply telephone lines
`to other telecommunications companies. Suffice
`it to say at this point that as a result of the open-
`ing up of the telecommunications business in the
`UK there are now several VANS offering special-
`ized services for travel agents. Besides BT itself,
`there is AT&T and Midland Network Services
`
`(MNS). Each of the travel agency service offerings
`of these companies is presented in the following
`sections.
`
`CONCERT
`
`On 4 November 1996 BT and MCI announced
`plans to form Concert,
`the world’s first global
`communications company. Combining the global
`assets of BT and MCI, as well as the companies’
`25 global ventures and 44 international alliances,
`
`NETWORKS
`
`299
`
` 306
`
`Petitioners' Exhibit 1021, Page
`
`

`
`Table 6.1 Concert — the combined companies
`
`Summary statistics
`
`MCI
`
`BT
`
`Annual revenues (US 5» billion)
`
`18.5
`
`Customers (million)
`
`21
`
`24.5
`
`22
`
`43
`43
`
`Employees
`Countries with:
`International offices
`International ventures
`
`129,000
`
`184,000
`
`30
`16
`
`72
`
`Note: Concert
`
`Since this book was written. the
`
`proposed merger between BT and
`
`MCI has not proceeded as originally
`planned. However, the text
`describing the general market aims
`and objectives of international
`telecommunications companies are
`nevertheless relevant to information
`
`technology within travel and tourism.
`
`19
`
`Concert will begin operations positioned to rapidly
`grow its 6 per cent share of the US $670 billion
`world-wide communications market. Fuelled by
`increasing privatization, widespread deregulation
`and technology innovations, this market is expected
`to grow to US $1 trillion by the year 2000.
`Concert will have its headquarters in London
`and Washington DC and its stock will be traded
`in London, New York and Tokyo. The company
`will be co-chaired by Bert C. Roberts Jr and Sir
`Iain Vallance and led by Sir Peter Bonfield as Chief
`Executive Officer and Gerald H. Taylor as Pre-
`sident and Chief Operating Officer. BT and MCI,
`both of which will continue to operate in their
`respective countries under their existing names,
`make up two of Concerts five operating units.
`The other units are International, Operating Alli-
`ances and Systems Integration. Table 6.1 gives
`some idea of the overall scale of the combined
`
`companies.
`Concert will offer an integrated set of products
`and services including local calling, long distance,
`wireless, Internet/Intranet, global communications,
`conferencing, systems integration, call centre ser-
`vices, multimedia and trading systems. Together
`with its ventures and alliance partners, it will reach
`80 per cent of the global communications market
`on its first day of formation. It will be the second
`largest carrier of international phone traffic in
`the world and its Internet network,
`the largest
`and fastest in the world, will make Internet access
`available from all regions of the globe. The wire-
`less market is expected to double in four years
`from 165 to 334 million subscribers. Concert will
`
`Europe and North America. The Concert Com-
`munications Company will begin operations with
`one of the most advanced portfolios of global
`networking services for multinational businesses.
`The top 5,000 multinational companies account
`for US $100 billion of annual global telecommun-
`ications revenue.
`
`Finally, Concert’s systems integration unit will
`be a US$2 billion enterprise, ranking it among
`the top five global IT service providers. The unit
`will employ 10,000 professionals in 120 locations
`world-wide, dedicated to providing a full spectrum
`of global IT solutions. This is one of the most
`significant outcomes of the Concert merger. It is
`expected to result in the creation of a computer
`services company called MCI Systemhouse. This
`new company will be created from MCI’s existing
`Systemhouse division (which was formed from the
`takeover in 1995 of SI-IL Systemhouse) and BT’s
`Syntegra division. Much of the success of MCI
`Systemhouse has been attributable to the handling
`of its outsourcing business. However, in the future,
`this new Concert service provider could well be the
`genesis of some exciting new travel and tourism
`products. After all,
`it is ideally placed to exploit
`these markets with its significant internal develop-
`ment resources and a truly world-wide customer
`base. Only time will tell.
`
`Line One
`
`As you would expect, BT is an ISP. I thought it
`would be worthwhile describing at least one ISP
`in the book and as Concert will be handling the
`majority of the world’s Internet traffic, I thought
`be in a position to capture a large share of this
`that it would serve as an excellent example of one
`market via its operations and ventures in Asia,
`
`
`300 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR TRAVEL AND TOURISM
`
`Petitioners‘ Exhibit 1021, Page 307
`
`

`
`Company
`head office
`
`BT
`
`messaging
`
`BT
`ED|*NET
`
`Credit card
`company
`
`High street
`shop B
`
`High street
`shop C
`
`High street concentrator
`(located in exchange)
`
`Figure 6.16 British Te|ecom’s high street
`network
`
`of the many ISPs available to a consumer. The BT
`ISP package enables a consumer to get connected
`to the World Wide Web and enjoy a range of
`information services that are provided by BT’s Line
`One Internet site. To use Line One, a consumer
`needs: (i) their own PC, which should be a 486
`or higher running windows with a minimum of 8
`Mb RAM; (ii) a modem, preferably capable of a
`speed of 28.8 Kb/s; and (c) a dial—up telephone
`line. The Line One package consists of browser
`software, which is provided on either a CD-ROM
`or diskette with full instructions. Once the soft-
`
`ware has been loaded, the user may then access
`the Line One site on the Internet, which offers the
`user the following pages of information:
`
`0 News and sport These pages have feeds from
`many popular news services and newspapers.
`They also incorporate weather forecasts, but
`only for the domestic area (international areas
`may be specifically selected).
`What’s on A guide for entertainment services,
`e.g., cinema, dance, theatre, music and clubs.
`Also provided is a television guide and reviews
`of shows and other events.
`
`Family A range of games, bulletin boards
`and other general areas of interest, such as
`
`horoscopes, and areas of interest to younger
`consumers.
`
`Information that includes an ency-
`Reference
`clopaedia showing a great deal of useful travel
`facts and figures as well as financial services and
`many stock, share and foreign money prices.
`Home shopping This includes a ticket buy-
`ing service, a telephone shop, a wine club and
`other systems.
`E-mail Line One provides Internet e—mail and
`other communications services, such as bulletin
`boards and chat forums.
`Internet Full access to the World Wide Web
`and all its sites.
`
`AT&T
`
`AT&T is a large global telecommunications com-
`pany that in the UK provides some important ser-
`vices to the travel industry. In fact AT&T has a
`turnover of around US $52 billion per year from
`all its world-wide businesses. ATSCT was founded
`
`back in 1925 as part of what became the giant
`Bell corporation in the USA. In fact ‘Ma Bell’, as
`it was known, became so big that the US Govern-
`ment decided that it was in danger of acting as a
`monopoly and passed legislation that broke it up
`
`NETWORKS
`
`301
`
` 308
`
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`
`

`
`telecommunications com-
`into separate regional
`panies. AT&T is one of them — and one of the
`biggest in fact.
`The current UK company has its origins in
`Istel, an IT service bureau originally owned by the
`British Leyland (BL) group. Istel provided com-
`puter services and telecommunications for the BL
`group and later, around 1979 when the company
`was devolved, also provided services outside BL on
`a commercial basis. The name Istel was adopted in
`1984. In 1987 the company was the subject of a
`management buy—out from the Rover Group, which
`took the company into the private sector where
`they became a public limited company. The final
`move was made in November 1989 when AT&T
`
`purchased the company, which then became AT&T
`Istel. Subsequently, the Istel part of the name was
`dropped and the company is now known simply
`as ATSCT.
`
`In the UK, ATSCT offers its services to com-
`panies in the manufacturing, healthcare, retail,
`finance and insurance industries as well as travel.
`
`ATSCT first started providing services specifically
`for the travel business around 1978, when it were
`competing with Prestel. In comparison with Prestel,
`however, ATSCT seemed to offer more on—line tour
`operator reservation systems and as a result
`it
`became increasingly popular with travel agents.
`The ATESCT network now carries more than 70
`
`per cent of all holidays booked electronically in
`the UK. Virtually every major tour operator is
`connected to the AT&T network, as are 90 travel
`principals and over 130 other service providers.
`Approximately 3,000 of the UK’s top travel agents
`are hardwired into the ATSCT network (see the
`following section on Direct Service below). It now
`operates one of the largest private digital wide
`area networks in Europe and is of course a fully
`fledged VANS provider.
`
`minals to dial into the AT&T network each time a
`supplier’s system needs to be accessed. The Direct
`Service guarantees instant connection to the AT&T
`network without the engaged or busy tones so fre-
`quently experienced at peak times. It also provides
`the agent with a good quality connection without
`line noise, which tends to corrupt the characters
`appearing on the screen. So, provided the travel
`agents make more than a certain number of dialled
`calls each year to AT&T then direct connection
`will actually save the agencies money in telephone
`call charges. Most of the major multiples are ‘hard
`wired’ into ATSCT via the Direct Service.
`
`The Direct Connect Service operates as follows,
`AT&T installs a Direct Service multiplexor in the
`agency. This is a special type of communications
`controller that supports up to eight devices, each
`of which may be either a viewdata terminal or a
`PC with a videotex emulation card. It allows each
`
`and every one to use the service at the same time.
`A modem is also installed in the agency and this
`is connected on the one side to the multiplexer
`and to the data line on the other. The data line is
`
`leased from BT and runs from the agency to a so
`called ‘donor site’. It is called a donor site because
`
`it is not actually an AT&T owned location and is
`often a travel agency that happens to be located
`in a conveniently central position within a region.
`The donor site is reimbursed any extra operat-
`ing costs by ATSCT. This link is so transparent
`that most locally connected agents are not aware
`that their data lines run through another agency.
`Indeed, there is no reason why they need to know
`because the donor site has no access to the data
`at all. The donor site acts as a kind of hub and is
`
`itself connected to the ATSCT network by a high
`speed data line.
`
`Summary of AT&T
`
`AT&T’s Direct Service
`
`travel—related tele-
`AT&T also provides several
`communications services that are covered in other
`
`This is one of AT&T’s key services. It connects
`3,000 of the UK’s top travel agents to a multitude
`of travel supplier systems. The ATSCT Direct Con-
`nect Service enables travel agency branches to be
`‘hard wired’ directly into the AT&T network by
`leased data lines. Using leased or rented lines means
`that the agents no longer have to use their ter-
`
`chapters of this book. For example, the FERRY#
`reservations system is supported by eight ferry
`companies who have all agreed to use a standard
`booking format and method (see Chapter 1). The
`Internet—based World Travel Guide On—line system
`provides information on up—to—date airline fares,
`a country gazetteer, the world’s weather, tourist
`
`302 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR TRAVEL AND TOURISM
`
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`
`

`
`exchange rates for foreign currencies and car hire
`details (see Chapter 5).
`
`IMMINUS
`
`Imminus is a separate business activity within a
`company called General Telecom, which is itself
`a wholly owned subsidiary of the General Cable
`Corporation. This parent company is 40 per cent
`owned by a major French utility company. Besides
`General Telecom, the General Cable Corporation
`also owns Yorkshire Cable and the Cable Corpora-
`tion, and has a 40 per cent share of Birmingham
`Cable. So, Imminus is very much a key part of a
`large international telecommunications business.
`The company’s origin