IBS Software Services, a leading provider of IT solutions to the travel, transportation and logistics industries, is now a member of the OpenTravel Alliance (OTA). With this association, IBS will be an active participant in developing travel industry e-business specifications to support information exchange among all segments of the travel industry.

The OTA is a not-for-profit trade association, founded in 1999 by travel companies, with a primary focus on the creation of electronic message structures to facilitate communication between the disparate systems in the global travel industry. OTA members actually do the work of identifying what messages are needed – prioritizing and creating the messages. This helps member companies meet interoperability requirements for themselves, their partners and their clients, thus reducing time-to-market for new products and services, decreasing IT costs, better servicing partners and customers, and increasing credibility in the marketplace

Membership in the OTA will give IBS the opportunity to share information, network with business and technology leaders across the travel industry, and participate in the OTA workgroups and subcommittees dedicated to the airline, cruise, rail, travel integration and hospitality industries.

According to VK Mathews, chairman and managing director, IBS Group, “OTA is a forum comprising members with a common goal of developing a part of a specification that may span some or all travel industry segments and their representative OTA Work Group. We are aligned to their mission of creating, expanding and adopting open universal data specifications, for the electronic exchange of business information among all sectors of the travel industry.”

“We are pleased to have IBS as a member”, said Valyn Perini, executive director, OTA. “As a leading solutions provider in the travel industry, we know OTA will benefit from their active participation, and IBS in turn will be able to take advantage of the valuable benefits of being a member of the travel industry’s leading specification development organization.”

IBS has been providing travel technology solutions to leading organizations which includes some of the world’s biggest names among travel portals, hospitality and tour technology companies. As early adopters of OTA standards, IBS will certainly leverage even more from its association with Open Travel Alliance while offering more value to its customers.