Ireland-based travel industry software suppliers
Datalex and
U.S.-based Sight & Sound Software, the developer of booking engine BookSmart, Monday merged to form a potentially dominant force in the
online air travel booking market.
The combined companies will be known as Datalex Ltd. with headquarters
remaining in Dublin, Ireland, and offices in England, the Netherlands,
the United States and Australia.
“One combined company will now provide the full range of integrated
solutions for the online travel enterprise,” said Neil Wilson, chief
executive officer of Datalex.
As Wilson admitted, Datalex customers often said they would like to
use Sight & Sound for certain applications and Datalex for others,
and this would now be possible from a single source.
Rapid growth of the online travel industry has led to similar
growth in the software firms that provide the means of making
online reservations. Monday’s announcement brings together two
companies to form a single supplier that can provide all the
components needed by the online travel enterprise.
Datalex has worked with Java-based booking systems, private fares
engines, tour and cruise products and connectivity solutions. Sight
& Sound brings to the deal its increasingly popular BookSmart
online travel booking engine.
Krista Pappas, director of travel at consultancy Gomez Advisors,
said the merger will significantly change the competitive landscape
of the online travel industry.
“The new organization will address a broad range of requirements —
including booking engines, private-fares engines, host access servers
and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions — to satisfy
the needs of the entire online enterprise,” said Pappas.
Initially, the combined company will have two online booking engines,
not only BookSmart but also Datalex’s existing BookIt! product. It will
continue to support both of them while developing new systems to
leverage the best technology from both BookSmart and BookIt!
The financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.
