NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 2005--Portaga Inc. today will unveil Portaga Travel Manager--a powerful new technology initiative that promises to streamline travel management for both consumers and travel suppliers. The launch will take place at the Explorer's Club at 5 p.m. in New York. On hand will be major powers from the travel and technology industries.
"Portaga Travel Manager marks the first use of Smart Connect(TM) web services and heralds a new era for the travel industry," says Robert Kost CEO of Portaga. "The Explorers Club--a unique institution whose members hold 'firsts' in virtually every major frontier in exploration, from Mt. Everest to the Moon--is an appropriate venue for this launch."
Portaga Travel Manager installs a travel button on user's desktops, enabling individuals to easily book reservations with a single click directly from Microsoft Office Outlook. The platform is embedded into the desktop or PDA and integrates seamlessly with calendaring, e-mail and expense reporting applications. In addition, the software pulls inventory from Sabre Travel Network's global distribution system and recommends a complete itinerary, which the user can fine-tune.
"If road warriors must change a trip, they simply drag the old departure time into the new slot--and the Portaga solution automatically rebooks and reconfirms the entire trip," says Kost. "We're bringing the recalculation power of digital spreadsheets to the travel industry."
"Portaga is one of the first significant examples of what we mean by 'smart client' technology - applications which are interoperable by design," said Don Dodge, director of Emerging Business for Microsoft (NASDAQ; MSFT). "Portaga combines the functionality of web services with the processing power of the PC. And by integrating with Outlook, Portaga will be able to reach a potential audience of 400 million Microsoft Office users through an application they already know and use every day."
Portaga Travel Manager is a Microsoft Windows(R)-based Web services platform that can communicate with multiple and disparate Internet resources simultaneously, using XML or other APIs to leverage data from one source to interact with another. The solution also communicates with programs on the PC to "travel-enable" virtually any application that can use it. The result is an intelligent agent that can help better manage a traveler's itineraries in an environment he or she is accustomed to.
"Sabre has always been a leader in travel technology - first by computerizing travel distribution, then by launching Travelocity on the Web, and now leveraging the Portaga travel manager," said Greg Webb, senior vice president of Marketing for the Sabre Travel Industry Group. "This represents the next phase in our continued commitment to our partner agencies and their customers to provide the most efficient and powerful tools for scheduling and purchasing travel on or off line."
Atlas Travel International is the initial travel management agency using Portaga Travel Manager. By collaborating with Portaga and consulting on countless complicated travel management processes behind the scenes, they have been able to develop a simple interface for users. The key to the success was the integration of the recently developed Atlas Common Knowledge/ Profiler system that manages every aspect of the traveler's personal preferences directly at the point of sale.
"Our Chief Technology Officer, Rock Blanco, has worked closely with the Portaga team to completely incorporate travel into the business traveler's schedule without dragging them into the complex world of travel management information processing," explains Elaine Osgood, president of Atlas Travel International. "Portaga's forward thinking approach completely supports the ongoing Atlas mission of incredible technology making the nearly impossible seem simplistic."
"We are pleased to be working with partners such as Microsoft, Sabre Holdings, Atlas Travel International and other travel industry players," says Kost.
New York Launch Party
What: Portaga will unveil the first version of its Smart Connect
travel management application at an exclusive launch party.
Who: Many of the most trusted names in the travel and technology
industries will be present including Avis/Cendant, Microsoft,
Atlas Travel International, -Travel Management Alliance,
PhoCusWright, Sabre Holdings and others.
When: Wednesday, September 14, 2005
5:00 p.m.
Where: The Explorer's Club
46 East 70th Street
New York City, NY.
Interested parties are invited to join the event via the Internet at www.portaga.com .
About Portaga Inc. Portaga Inc., formerly Realtime Enterprises, is the premier provider of patent-pending Smart Connect travel management applications. The company was recognized as a technology up-and-comer at the 2005 DEMO! Conference. Portaga is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner and a member of the Open Travel Alliance (OTA). Key customers and partners include Cendant and Sabre, two of the most-trusted names in travel. The company is privately held, with investors including First Round Capital, Geocapital Partners, Cove Harbor Partners, and Genesys Partners. For more information visit www.portaga.com.
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