Press Release: Worldspan
August 7, 2001
ATLANTA, GA -- Worldspan yesterday announced the launch of Worldspan Travel Map, an innovative proof of concept
that allows Worldspan customers to experience first hand the next generation of Web navigation and search technology.
Travel Map is now being showcased on the Worldspan Web site (www.worldspan.com ) for customer evaluation prior
to final development of this groundbreaking new technology.
Jointly developed by Worldspan and WebMap Technologies, Inc., and designed exclusively for the travel industry,
Travel Map searches for and locates travel information from the Internet or any database by combining traditional
navigation, browsing, and searching functions into a unique new visual interaction known as ``zooming.'' This information
mapping technology provides a user-friendly visual guide to information embedded in Web sites, intranets and extranets.
Information is presented graphically rather than as traditional text lists. The result is faster, more effective
searches.
By locating specific information more quickly and efficiently than text- based search applications, Travel Map
can increase productivity, enhance customer service, and enable better and more informed decision making about
travel.
``Networked databases, including the Internet, may offer a vast reservoir of highly useful travel information,
but retrieving specific information quickly and efficiently can be a challenge,'' commented Helen Porter, vice
president - Worldwide Product for Worldspan. ``We believe Travel Map offers an easy-to-use solution for a broad
range of travel suppliers and e-commerce businesses, and we invite our customers to evaluate this exciting proof
of concept and share their experience with us during this key phase of product development.''
Travel Map is available for customer download at www.worldspan.com through
the end of August. While Worldspan is showcasing the proof of concept at its Web site for convenience, Travel Map
is designed for current Worldspan customers, not for the consumer market. Users of the proof of concept technology
have the opportunity to respond online with comments and suggestions.
Earlier this year, Worldspan and WebMap Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of information mapping software,
entered a strategic software licensing agreement to co-develop new search and navigation software for the global
travel industry. Worldspan continues to work closely with WebMap in exploring additional customized travel applications
for WebMap's information mapping technology.
About WebMap Technologies
Boston-based WebMap Technologies is a privately held software company providing software for information management.
Since its founding, the company has obtained more than $7.0 million in financing from Deutsche Bank, IRR, Technorov
and a series of private investors. One of the company's initial seed investors is Shlomo Kramer, co-founder of
the worldwide leader in Internet security software, Check Point Software. The company has the backing of an extraordinary
advisory board including the former head of the MIT mathematics department, Professor Daniel Kleitman; Nobel Prize
winner Sheldon Glashow; the co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, John Perry Barlow; Charlie Sullivan,
Senior VP of Business Services & Strategic Planning at Worldspan; MIT software pioneer Dr. Pattie Maes, and
Jim Bair - former senior scientist on the Stanford Research Institute's team that invented the mouse, hypertext
and Windows. For more information please visit www.webmap.com .
About Worldspan
Worldspan provides global electronic distribution of travel information, Internet products and connectivity, and
electronic commerce capabilities for travel agencies, travel service providers and corporations worldwide. The
company's three lines of business are travel supplier services, e-commerce, and global distribution systems for
the worldwide travel industry. The Worldspan reservations system provides nearly 21,000 travel agencies and other
users worldwide with travel data and booking capabilities for hundreds of the world's leading travel supplier services.
Worldspan is the market leader in e-commerce for the travel industry, processing more than 50 percent of all online
travel bookings. The company maintains world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Worldspan is owned by affiliates
of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL), Northwest Airlines (Nasdaq: NWAC) and TWA Airlines LLC, a wholly- owned subsidiary
of American Airlines, Inc. Additional information is available at www.worldspan.com
.
SOURCE: Worldspan