Winners to be Announced at Washington, D.C. Gala on June 6, 2005
May 31, 2005 – Cendant Travel Distribution Services (TDS) has been named as a finalist for the coveted 21st Century Achievement Award from the Computerworld Honors Program for its visionary use of information technology in the Business and Related Services category. The nomination is in recognition of Cendant TDS’s contributions to the global information technology revolution and its positive impact on society. The winners will be announced at an awards gala at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. on June 6, 2005.
Cendant TDS was one of 162 laureates selected by the program’s Chairmen’s Committee study from over 250 nominations to submit a case study that officially became part of the prestigious Computerworld Honors Collection this past April when the 2005 Collection was formally presented to the Global Archives. Of these 162 laureates, Cendant TDS is one of just 48 finalists, in 10 categories, chosen by an academy of 30 distinguished judges to attend the June 6 event.
“We are pleased to be recognized by this prestigious organization for our work in open systems. Through the continual innovation to our technology, we are able to provide tremendous value to suppliers, agencies and consumers alike,” said Robert Wiseman, chief technology officer, Cendant Travel Distribution Services. “We’ve led the travel industry in our hardware and software standardization and the move to open systems technology, currently processing over 5 billion transactions a month - all of which are partially or entirely processed on open systems.”
“The Computerworld Honors 21st Century Achievement Awards are presented to organizations around the world who have made outstanding progress and whose visionary use of information technology produces and promotes positive social, economic and educational change,” said Bob Carrigan, president and CEO of IDG’s Computerworld, the Voice of IT Management, and chairman of the Chairmen’s Committee of the Computerworld Honors Program. “The finalists for these awards along with the laureate innovators represented in the Honors Collection have been recognized by the leading IT industry chairmen as true revolutionaries in their fields.”
The 2005 Collection, which will be archived in libraries, museums, and academic and research institutions around the world, will serve as primary source material for scholars and as a resource for individuals who hope to use information technology to create solutions to address their own challenges. The collection is comprised of case studies from 54 countries.
The case study that led to Cendant TDS’s Chief Technology Officer, Robert Wiseman, being an award recipient on behalf of the Company was on the Reorganization of Cendant Travel Distribution Services and can be viewed in detail at http://secure.cwheroes.org/briefingroom_2005/pdf_frame/index.asp?id=5185.
This case study focused on how, under Robert’s leadership, Cendant TDS was able to concentrate on the wide scale reuse of its assets – i.e. it’s software programs and through standardization of its Linux/Intel based computer hardware solutions (known as cookie-cutter-architecture). Beginning with the centralization of key resources and the development of greater core competencies through hardware and software standardization and culminating with a set of standards which delivered cost avoidance benefits exceeding $100 million.
Case studies from the 2005 Computerworld Honors Collection will be available at http://www.cwheroes.org, the official site of the Computerworld Honors Program, where the entire Collection is available to scholars, researchers and the general public worldwide. In addition, the Collection is distributed annually to the Honors Program’s Archival Partners around the world. These partners include some of the world’s finest research and scholarly institutions, each of which has generously agreed to include the Collection in its archives.
According to Dan Morrow, a founding director and chief historian for the Honors Program, “This year’s finalists truly demonstrate how technology can significantly impact industries throughout the country. The accomplishments they have achieved through the use of technology are outstanding historical contributions to the information technology revolution in every sense of the word.”
About Cendant Travel Distribution Services
Cendant Corporation’s (NYSE: CD) Travel Distribution Services Division, is one of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse collections of travel brands and distribution businesses. The division, employing nearly 9,000 people in approximately 120 countries, includes: a leading (GDS) global distribution system (Galileo), serving more than 44,000 travel agencies and over 60,000 hotels; hotel distribution and services businesses (Neat Group®, THOR®, TRUST and WizCom®); leading online travel agencies (CheapTickets®, ebookers.com®, HotelClub.com, Lodging.com, Orbitz®, and RatesToGo.com); an airline market intelligence company (Shepherd Systems); an international travel technology and software company (Travelwire); a leading international provider of long-haul air travel and travel product consolidator (Travel 2®/Travel 4®); online global corporate travel management solutions (Orbitz for Business® and Travelport®); and a leading wholesaler and global online provider of hotels, destination services, travel packages and group tours (Gullivers Travel Associates, OctopusTravel.com® and Travel Bound, Inc.).
About the Computerworld Honors Program
Owned and produced by the Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation, a Massachusetts not-for-profit corporation founded by International Data Group (IDG) in 1988, the Computerworld Honors Program searches for and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated vision and leadership as they strive to use information technology in innovative ways across 10 categories: Business and Related Services; Education and Academia; Environment, Energy and Agriculture; Finance, Insurance and Real Estate; Government and Non-Profit Organizations; Manufacturing; Media, Arts and Entertainment; Medicine; Science; and Transportation. Each year, the Computerworld Honors Chairmen’s Committee nominates organizations that are using information technology to improve society for inclusion in the Computerworld Honors Online Archive and the Collections of the Global Archives. The Global Archives represents the 100-plus institutions from more than 30 countries that include the Computerworld Honors Collection in their archives and libraries.
# # #
Media Contacts:
Cendant Travel Distribution Services
Sarah Berger or Jill Brenner
(973) 496-5870
TDS.CorpComm@cendant.com