The OpenTravel Alliance Affirms Commitment to Innovation in a Rattled Economy and Publishes Version 2001A

Alexandria, VA, USA. October 1, 2001.

The OpenTravel Alliance (OTA), whose members are working diligently to strengthen and build solidarity for the travel industry, released today Version 2001A of its specification.

Merging the OTA and Hospitality Industry Technology Integration Standards (HITIS) respective customer profiles, the Alliance unites the requirements of both hospitality and travel industries into one comprehensive specification. Unifying a historically fractured process, OTA converges and capitalizes on the communication process between the players in this industry by harnessing the power behind Extensible Markup Language (XML).

In the coming months, OTA will complete work on two specifications, supporting such cross-industry norms as the ebXML infrastructure and SOAP messaging. Additionally, OTA will release for public review in spring 2002 a specification that will become the foundation for all future messaging in the travel industry.

"OTA remains a launching pad for innovation, enabling information exchange across all sectors of the travel industry while stimulating travel and tourism around the world," said OTA President Mike Kistner, Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Best Western International. "The implementation of Version 2001A translates into meaningful change for businesses looking for ways to cut costs and streamline their e-business infrastructures."

OTA Version 2001A enhances the use of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) XML schemas and adopts a portion of the messaging structure developed by the ebXML Transport, Routing and Packaging project team. In addition, Version 2001A includes the following components:

Specification Document: Traditional specification information that includes the user license, acknowledgements, introduction and explanations of the specification's business content
Document Type Definition (DTD): A DTD that supplies the technical roadmap for the specification
XML Schema: XML Schema (XSD) in conformance with the W3C recommendation

The OpenTravel Alliance (www.opentravel.org) develops communications specifications to allow for the efficient and effective exchange of travel industry information via the Internet. With over 150 members representing influential names in all sectors of the travel industry, OTA is comprised of representatives from the airlines, car rental agencies, hotels, leisure suppliers, non-suppliers, tour operators, and trade associations. These travel industries, together with an OTA interoperability committee to coordinate their efforts, are developing open Internet-compatible messages using XML data terms.

Contact:

Data Interchange Standards Association
Julia O'Brien
Tel: +1 703/837-6155
Email: jobrien@disa.org

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See "OpenTravel Alliance (OTA)."

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