The travel and transportation division of IBM Corp and SITA, the telecoms and IT services provider owned by 11 airlines, are to stop competing on most airport contracts and work together to offer full systems integration services. The move will make it increasingly difficult for other systems integration services to get a foothold in the airport sector, which is worth $1bn a year and is growing at 15% annually. SITA, which last year floated off its Equant private network, has about three quarters of the global market for passenger management systems, while IBM is the largest supplier of systems integration services to the airlines. The alliance is driven by the need to provide airports with complete integration of systems across the board, explained Geneva, Switzerland-based SITA’s vice-president for airport systems integration, John Jarrell. Until now, airports have been like islands of information, with a lot of separate systems that weren’t well connected, he explained. Many of SITA’s systems, installed at 500 airports worldwide, are not integrated with other airline or airport systems. A combination of privatization and commercialization, coupled with growing passenger throughput, means airports are under pressure to operate more efficiently. Jarrel argues that efficient passenger handling can help airports postpone the need to invest in new terminals. SITA developed the CUTE (Common Use Terminal Equipment) system which enables different airlines to use the same check-ins or gates at different times of the day, even though back office systems are not integrated. IBM and SITA have co-operated closely on some projects in the past, and recently won a contract to build the passenger management systems at the new Pudong airport being built in Shanghai, China. Peter Lindgren, manager of IBM’s global airport business, said the two companies have until now been doing integration work and systems management, but on a more niche-related basis and now they are seeking to offer end-to-end competencies.
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