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Amadeus
Press release
Amadeus commitment to innovation confirmed by top sector rankings as European leader for R&D investment
Amadeus has once again maintained its sector rankings as one of the leading companies in Europe for investment in Research & Development (R&D) by the European Commission (EC). The 2011 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, an annual report published by the EC, examines the largest 1,000 European companies investing in R&D during 2010 and ranks them according to the total amount invested.
Amadeus commitment to innovation confirmed by top sector rankings as European leader for R&D investment
• Annual EC listing of top 1,000 companies for R&D investment published
• €326m investment in 2010 ranks Amadeus again first in two sectors
• Overall ranking rises 11 places since 2010 report – and 22 places since 2005 report
• €326m investment in 2010 ranks Amadeus again first in two sectors
• Overall ranking rises 11 places since 2010 report – and 22 places since 2005 report
Madrid, Spain, 27 October 2011: Amadeus has once again maintained its sector rankings as one of the leading companies in Europe for investment in Research & Development (R&D) by the European Commission (EC). Amadeus is a leading transaction processor and provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.
The 2011 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, an annual report published by the EC, examines the largest 1,000 European companies investing in R&D during 2010 and ranks them according to the total amount invested.
Amadeus’ investment of €326 million during 2010 to research and develop technologies for use in the travel sector was recognised by the company maintaining the following rankings:
• First place in Europe by total R&D investment in the computer services category
• Number one in Europe by total R&D investment in the area of travel and tourism
Amadeus also increased its overall ranking by 11 places, rising from number 78 in 2010’s report to number 67 out of the 1,000 companies ranked in 2011 – and up from number 89 in 2005.
Innovation is one of the drivers behind Amadeus’ progress and growth, which has allowed the company’s technology to achieve an outstanding competitive position within the market. Total investment since 2004 stands at more than €1.6 billion, reflecting a consistent investment every year of around 14.4% of consolidated revenues.
Jean-Paul Hamon, Executive Vice President, Development at Amadeus and head of the company’s software development, says: “Once again we are very excited that our investment in R&D has been highlighted by the well-recognised European Commission study and we are very satisfied with our top ranking in two business areas. We have a proven track record in innovating, with pioneering travel industry products and initiatives. R&D remains central to our progression as a large-scale technology leader.”
Amadeus has fifteen R&D centres around the world (Nice, London, Sydney, Antwerp, Aachen, Frankfurt, Boston, Miami, Toronto, Strasbourg, Tucson, Bangalore, Bogota, Warsaw and Bangkok), which currently house a team of over 4,000 people.
In terms of technology, Amadeus’ R&D efforts have in recent years have been particularly focused on:
- Extremely high performance transaction processing under stringent system availability and dependability requirements;
- Information mining from very large data-bases;
- Super-responsive travel search engines;
- Multi-channel customer servicing applications (agent desktop, web, kiosk, mobile, tablets).
Examples of the impact this has had on innovation in Amadeus products and services in recent years include:
- Continued development of the Amadeus Alta Customer Management Solution (CMS), a community-based airline IT platform that consists of three solutions covering reservation, inventory management and departure control. The Alta portfolio has marked a technological and functional breakthrough in the airline industry – with 112 airlines already contracted to use both Alta Reservation and Inventory.
- Development of the Amadeus Hotel Platform, a solution for hotel chains which combines central reservation, property management and global distribution systems into one fully integrated platform. This recently-launched platform is designed to support hotels in the current age of globalisation and expansion, enabling them to respond to changing traveller demands.
- Development of sophisticated search engines with new parameters, such as the recent launch of Amadeus Extreme Search for online travel agencies worldwide, following a pilot with the leading Nordic online travel agency European Travel Interactive (eTRAVELi). Extreme Search is an inspirational shopping tool that offers an intuitive search solution that revolutionises the way consumers search for air travel online, allowing them to search by budget, type of activity or geography, rather than searching by traditional criteria such as origin and destination.
- Development of ancillary services solutions as part of our commitment to helping airlines adapt and evolve their ancillary services strategy so that customers can move their focus from pure revenue to delivering profitability. Amadeus Airline Ancillary Services is an end-to-end solution which enables airlines to distribute (display, book, price and pay) services across all channels in full compliance with industry standards. Amadeus has developed a unique interactive catalogue which clearly displays the range of additional airline services available allowing travel agencies to view, book and up-sell ancillary services quickly and efficiently. Seventeen airlines have already signed up for Amadeus Airline Ancillary Services. The solution has already been implemented both for the online and the travel agency channels in key markets, including France and Scandinavia.
The 2011 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, an annual report published by the EC, examines the largest 1,000 European companies investing in R&D during 2010 and ranks them according to the total amount invested.
Amadeus’ investment of €326 million during 2010 to research and develop technologies for use in the travel sector was recognised by the company maintaining the following rankings:
• First place in Europe by total R&D investment in the computer services category
• Number one in Europe by total R&D investment in the area of travel and tourism
Amadeus also increased its overall ranking by 11 places, rising from number 78 in 2010’s report to number 67 out of the 1,000 companies ranked in 2011 – and up from number 89 in 2005.
Innovation is one of the drivers behind Amadeus’ progress and growth, which has allowed the company’s technology to achieve an outstanding competitive position within the market. Total investment since 2004 stands at more than €1.6 billion, reflecting a consistent investment every year of around 14.4% of consolidated revenues.
Jean-Paul Hamon, Executive Vice President, Development at Amadeus and head of the company’s software development, says: “Once again we are very excited that our investment in R&D has been highlighted by the well-recognised European Commission study and we are very satisfied with our top ranking in two business areas. We have a proven track record in innovating, with pioneering travel industry products and initiatives. R&D remains central to our progression as a large-scale technology leader.”
Amadeus has fifteen R&D centres around the world (Nice, London, Sydney, Antwerp, Aachen, Frankfurt, Boston, Miami, Toronto, Strasbourg, Tucson, Bangalore, Bogota, Warsaw and Bangkok), which currently house a team of over 4,000 people.
In terms of technology, Amadeus’ R&D efforts have in recent years have been particularly focused on:
- Extremely high performance transaction processing under stringent system availability and dependability requirements;
- Information mining from very large data-bases;
- Super-responsive travel search engines;
- Multi-channel customer servicing applications (agent desktop, web, kiosk, mobile, tablets).
Examples of the impact this has had on innovation in Amadeus products and services in recent years include:
- Continued development of the Amadeus Alta Customer Management Solution (CMS), a community-based airline IT platform that consists of three solutions covering reservation, inventory management and departure control. The Alta portfolio has marked a technological and functional breakthrough in the airline industry – with 112 airlines already contracted to use both Alta Reservation and Inventory.
- Development of the Amadeus Hotel Platform, a solution for hotel chains which combines central reservation, property management and global distribution systems into one fully integrated platform. This recently-launched platform is designed to support hotels in the current age of globalisation and expansion, enabling them to respond to changing traveller demands.
- Development of sophisticated search engines with new parameters, such as the recent launch of Amadeus Extreme Search for online travel agencies worldwide, following a pilot with the leading Nordic online travel agency European Travel Interactive (eTRAVELi). Extreme Search is an inspirational shopping tool that offers an intuitive search solution that revolutionises the way consumers search for air travel online, allowing them to search by budget, type of activity or geography, rather than searching by traditional criteria such as origin and destination.
- Development of ancillary services solutions as part of our commitment to helping airlines adapt and evolve their ancillary services strategy so that customers can move their focus from pure revenue to delivering profitability. Amadeus Airline Ancillary Services is an end-to-end solution which enables airlines to distribute (display, book, price and pay) services across all channels in full compliance with industry standards. Amadeus has developed a unique interactive catalogue which clearly displays the range of additional airline services available allowing travel agencies to view, book and up-sell ancillary services quickly and efficiently. Seventeen airlines have already signed up for Amadeus Airline Ancillary Services. The solution has already been implemented both for the online and the travel agency channels in key markets, including France and Scandinavia.
– Ends –
Notes to editors
The European Commission report (2011 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard) can be found at: http://iri.jrc.ec.europa.eu/research/scoreboard_2011.htm
Amadeus is a leading transaction processor and provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.
Customer groups include travel providers (e.g. airlines, hotels, rail, ferries, etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and individual travellers).
The group operates a transaction-based business model and processed more than 850 million billable travel transactions in 2010.
Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters ), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, Bangkok and Dubai. At a market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations through 73 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations covering 195 countries.
Amadeus is listed on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges and trades under the symbol “AMS.MC”. For the year ended 31 December 2010, the company reported revenues of EUR 2,683 million and EBITDA of EUR 1,015 million. The Amadeus group employs around10,000 employees worldwide, with 123 nationalities represented at the central offices.
To find out more about Amadeus please go to www.amadeus.com.
To visit the Amadeus Investor Relations centre please go to www.investors.amadeus.com.
Contact details
Amadeus
Malek Nejjai
Tel.: +34 91 582 0160
Fax: +34 91 582 0188
Email: mediarelations@amadeus.com
Grupo Albión
Alejandra Moore Mayorga
Sofía García
Tel: +34 91 531 23 88
Fax: +34 91 521 81 87
Email: sgarcia@grupoalbion.net
amoore@grupoalbion.net