California’s NCR Corporation and Dublin-based Datalex have joined together to provide outsourcing services for Mexicana Airlines, one of Latin America’s largest air carriers. NCR’s Teradata database and Datalex’s ARIVA MarketProfile analysis and query reporting tool are specifically designed for the airline industry, and will provide the 79-year-old airline with customized analysis of airline industry reservation data. NCR will provide complete operation and management of the data warehouse through its Optimized Outsourcing services – housing, administering and maintaining the system at an NCR facility. As part of the outsourcing solution, NCR will perform data hosting and analysis on industry information extracted from MIDT tapes. The NCR and Datalex solution will then provide Mexicana with customized market profile views of the reservation data. Additional reporting tools (COGNOS Impromptu) provided by NCR will allow Mexicana to optimize its route and scheduling practices. Sales and marketing employees of Mexicana can access the ARIVA MarketProfile solution designed by Datalex to analyze market share, identify new markets, evaluate current carrier alliances, and measure travel agency performance. Founded in 1921 in Mexico City, Mexicana Airlines is Mexico’s largest international carrier and the fourth oldest airline in the world. The airline currently operates a fleet of 57 aircraft including the Boeing 727-200, Boeing 757-200, Airbus A-320 and Fokker F-100. On average, more than 8 million passengers travel on Mexicana flights every year. Its network includes 29 cities in Mexico, two in Canada, 11 in the United States, three in Central America, three in South America and two in the Caribbean.. – Lorraine Willson
Compaq launches high-end server line
With Sun Microsystems Inc. in mind and Oracle Corporation at its side, Compaq Computer Corp. has launched its high-end, RISC-based server line, the AlphaServer GS. The server, which runs Linux and OpenVMS, Compaq’s Tru64 brand of Unix, from the vendor’s Digital division, will support CPU clustering as well as multiple operating systems running simultaneously via partitioning capabilities. The multiple OS support and speed of the CPUs are features targeted at key markets for Compaq, such as telecommunications, financial services, high-performance technical/scientific computing and health care. Compaq is also targeting specific application areas such as business intelligence/data warehousing, supply chain/enterprise resource planning (ERM) and customer relationship management (CRM). Michael Capellas, who left Oracle to become president and CEO of Compaq eight months ago, said last week that the public support by Oracle is a direct result of his influence and a harbinger of better self-promotion to come from Compaq. Oracle’s support of Compaq stems from the software vendor’s push for consolidation that it says is necessary for any e-business to be successful. The reliable and scalable performance of Compaq hardware is “what we need in the marketplace; it’s absolutely critical to our business,” said Gary Bloom, an executive vice president at Oracle.
– Eugene Grygo
