The Cambridge, MA-based travel software firm, which was acquired by Google for $700 million in 2010 (the deal finally went through last spring), hasn’t been saying much about its integration with the Mountain View, CA-based Web search giant (NASDAQ: GOOG). And that hasn’t changed today, but at least ITA is talking about something: The firm is rolling out a comprehensive new software platform that helps airlines manage their reservations and essentially run their whole business. After many years of development work, the system’s first customer is Hyannis, MA-based regional airline Cape Air.

The new system includes software for Cape Air’s reservation management, website management, revenue accounting, seat inventory and logistics, luggage tracking, and a host of other features meant to bring airlines fully into the Internet era. It is complementary to ITA’s main business, which has consisted of itinerary pricing and travel search software. Technologically, the reservation system has a fast, distributed structure based on PCs and Linux, as opposed to airlines’ existing mainframe systems.

“It’s what you would expect if modern computer science were to build an airline reservation system,” says Jeremy Wertheimer, ITA’s co-founder and former CEO (now vice president of travel for Google). “We’ve been working on this for a while.” He adds that while ITA is “all part of Google now,” this part of the business is “not directly related to flight search.”

“There are a lot of good operating systems out there,” says Dan Wolf, the founder and CEO of Cape Air. “But this is capturing the technologies of today that will serve the needs of tomorrow.”

My colleague Wade first wrote about ITA’s reservation system, code-named Polaris, back in late 2008. At the time, ITA had lined up Air Canada as its first customer. But in 2009, Air Canada backed out as it was dealing with financial problems. So the platform was not deployed with that airline. More recently, ITA’s acquisition by Google raised the question of whether the Polaris project would continue, given Google’s strategic focus on flight search rather than software for airlines.

Today’s announcement suggests the project is continuing, though Google, being a search and advertising company, doesn’t seem to be pushing hard on this business direction yet. (The company is more busy implementing its new privacy policy as of today.) Still, Wertheimer says ITA has a team of well over 100 employees—probably closer to 150— working on the reservations platform, which makes up a little less than half of ITA’s total headcount, he says. (ITA’s overall staff size seems to be down from some 500 people in late 2008.)

And in any case, Wertheimer has his eye on the bigger picture—and bigger problems to solve in the travel industry. Talking about the goals of ITA, he says, “You hire really great people, you work hard, and they take on big problems. It doesn’t matter how hard the problem is, they rise to the occasion.”

So look for ITA to sign up more customers on the airline reservation system front. “We’ve done the hard part now,” Wertheimer says. “The airline is up and running.”

Meanwhile, we’ll try to learn more about what ITA is working on with Google in the travel search domain to compete against the likes of Kayak, Expedia, Bing Travel, and TripAdvisor (on the content and reviews side). That would seem to be the greater future of Google’s ITA business.

Source:http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2012/03/01/ita-software-emerges-from-googles-shadow-with-new-airline-platform/

ITA Software, up until April, had been a privately held company, but Google today shed a bit of light on its acquisition’s revenue numbers.

Google’s “other revenues” — meaning everything but advertising revenues — increased 51.6% in the third quarter to $385 million and an official attributed much of the boost to the “year over year impact of ITA.”

Google acquired ITA in mid-April so Google’s third quarter results, which were released today, included the first full quarter with ITA in the fold.

The $385 million in other revenue amounted to a $131 million increase compared with the third quarter of 2010, and one analyst surmised that about $75 million to $100 million of that increase might be attributed to the presence of ITA and its revenue, largely from airlines.

Of course, a $75 million to $100 million quarterly revenue contribution from ITA is just a drop in the bucket when you consider Google’s $9.7 billion in total revenue for the third quarter.

Considering that the third quarter usually is a relatively strong one on a seasonal basis for travel, it isn’t hard to extrapolate that ITA’s annual run rate could be in the $200 to $250 million ballpark.

That might make ITA’s airline search business an even larger enterprise on a revenue basis than Kayak’s travel metasearch business, which recorded about $171 million in revenue in 2010 and nearly $110 million in the first six months of 2011.

Or at least the two, albeit different, businesses would be in the same conversation when considering their relative size.

Google may have considered buying Kayak at one juncture several years ago, but settled on ITA and its technology for $700 million, and rolled out Google Flight Search in mid-September.

In a conference call today about Google’s third quarter results, Susan Wojcicki, vice president of advertising, rehashed a familiar refrain about the “speedy” flight-search solution, saying the launch was “the takeoff and not the final destination.”

Meanwhile, CEO Larry Page defended Google’s approach in various verticals, including travel, when asked about Google’s strategy in light of the company getting much closer to the transaction on several fronts.

Page said Google merely is trying to improve users’ search experience, as it has done throughout its history.

Coincidentally, Tom Barnett, counsel to Expedia, submitted answers to questions posed by the US Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, meeting today’s deadline to respond to the committee.

Source:http://www.tnooz.com/2011/10/13/news/google-sheds-light-on-size-of-ita-software-business/

Google Inc.’s $700 million acquisition of travel technology company ITA Software is now complete.

In its corporate blog, Mountain View-based Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) said the U.S. Department of Justice approved the deal Wednesday.

“It’s important to us that ITA continue with business as usual, providing great service to its business partners. We indicated last July that we would honor ITA’s existing contracts. Today we’ve formally committed to let ITA’s customers extend their contracts into 2016. We’ve also agreed to let both current and new customers license ITA’s QPX software on ‘fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms’ into 2016—along with related commitments aimed at making ITA’s technology available to other travel sites,” Google wrote in the blog post.

Earlier this month Google’s acquisition plans received conditional approval from the DOJ, which also set some rules.

“It’s rewarding to see this next chapter of ITA unfold,” said Scott Tobin, a general partner at Menlo Park-based Battery Ventures.

ITA was a portfolio company for the VC firm, which led a $100 million venture capital financing round in January 2006.

“We invested based on the strength of ITA’s technology and vision, and our confidence in the team’s ability to execute. They’ve innovated and built over the years, and earned their spot as an industry leader. This is a terrific outcome for ITA and its customers, for the travel industry at large, and for us as investors. Google will be a great partner in its next phase of innovation and growth,” Tobin said.

Source:http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2011/04/13/battery-ventures-completes-ita.html

Google Inc. has gained approval from the U.S. Department of Justice for the $700 million takeover of ITA Software, whose software is employed by online travel sites such as Expedia, TripAdvisor, and Kayak, as well as several major airlines. This acquisition highlights the new era of CEO Larry Page’s management in diversifying the world’s largest Internet search company into strategic key growth areas like social networking, mobile, and travel.

The move will enable Google to tap into ITA’s competitive Web-based travel purchasing platform, and with the existing functionality of ITA’s tools, Google plans to “develop exciting new flight search tools,” according to the company’s senior vice president of commerce and local, Jeff Huber in an official blog post.

“How cool would it be if you could type ‘flights to somewhere sunny for under $500 in May’ into Google and get not just a set of links but also flight times, fares, and a link to sites where you can actually buy tickets quickly and easily?” said Huber.

Although third parties like Expedia will continue to use the software, Google has agreed to install firewalls that protect the integrity of client information as well as a process to evaluate any questions about fees.

“The proposed settlement assures that airfare comparison and booking websites will be able to compete effectively, providing benefits for consumers,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joseph Wayland said on Friday April 8, according to Bloomberg.

There was vocal opposition to the merger, with companies such as Microsoft, Kayak.com, Expedia, and other third parties arguing that Google’s acquisition of ITA compromised competition. They previously formed FairSearch.org in opposition to the merger.

Google’s dominant position will likely result in more stringent guidelines and vigilance in the monitoring of its activities. “We continue to scrutinize broader questions about the fairness of Google’s search engine, and whether it preferences its own products and services to the detriment of competitors,” said Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, reported Reuters.

Source:http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/business/google-authorized-to-buy-travel-software-company-ita-54595.html

Google and the U.S. Justice Department are close to an agreement that will clear the search giant’s $700 million acquisition of flight-data firm ITA Software in return for granting federal regulators the authority to monitor a part of its operations.

“Google and the Justice Department are close to an agreement that would clear the search giant’s $700 million acquisition of ITA Software,” The Wall Street Journal reported citing a source.

The proposed agreement is not final, and could fall apart, the report noted.

In case, Google and the Justice Department clinch the deal, it would mark a turning point for the company in its rapid growth from a Silicon Valley start-up to a digital giant so powerful that it is drawing the sort of government scrutiny accorded to AT&T and Microsoft in earlier decades.

The proposed agreement would for the first time allow government anti-trust monitoring of a part of Google’s operations to assure that the company does not unfairly use its control of ITA’s airline data to put rivals at a disadvantage, the report said citing sources.

The proposed monitoring could set a benchmark for future Google acquisitions. The company, having once conceded that U.S. regulators could oversee its behaviour on a continuing basis, would be more likely to face antitrust enforcers’ demands to accept such terms again, the report said.

The company has been facing growing pressure from authorities in the U.S. and Europe on both anti-trust and privacy matters.

Last week, Google agreed to submit independent privacy audits for the next 20 years as part of a legal settlement with the Federal Trade Commission of claims it violated users’ privacy at its social network, Buzz, the daily pointed out.

According to the publication, spokespersons for Google, ITA and the Justice Department declined comment.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/article1617514.ece

Online travel company Orbitz Worldwide (OWW.N) said on Monday it reached agreement with ITA Software, in the process of being acquired by Google, to renew its software license.

Critics of Google’s (GOOG.O) $700 million cash purchase have expressed concern that Google rivals and potential rivals might lose access to ITA Software if the Justice Department were to approve the acquisition.

Under the deal, Orbitz will use ITA’s QPX software on its Orbitz and CheapTickets.com websites through the end of 2015, the company said in a press release.

The Justice Department, in its review of the controversial deal, has been focusing on ensuring that companies like Orbitz and Kayak continue to have access to ITA’s software after the transaction closes, a source has told Reuters.

“It (the license renewal) … shows that ITA is willing to enter into long term contracts with some of these travel web sites,” said antitrust expert Andre Barlow of the law firm Doyle, Barlow and Mazard PLLC.

“It’s one way of handling it without having a consent agreement with the government,” said Barlow.

Orbitz, which has been neutral in the Google-ITA deal, has used ITA software since 2001, it said.

Google, the world’s No. 1 Internet search engine, announced in July its plans to acquire ITA Software.

Source:http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/07/orbitz-ita-antitrust-idUSN0723836220110207

The U.S. Justice Department’s review of Google Inc’s planned acquisition of airline ticketing software company ITA Software is focusing on making sure ITA’s products remain available, even to Google’s rivals, according to a source close to the deal.

Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA has sparked worries in the tech world that travel websites such as Orbitz Worldwide Inc, Kayak and TripAdvisor could be deprived of ITA’s software.

Kayak, for example, is asking for assurances that Google will extend its software licenses when they expire, that the software is upgraded and that a firewall is placed around the companies’ proprietary software, which operates in conjunction with the ITA software and may be in ITA servers, to protect their intellectual property.

But Google has been unwilling to give them those assurances, said Kayak spokesman Robert Birge. “We have found the conversations with Google to be frankly wanting,” he told Reuters.

Google, the world’s No. 1 Internet search engine, announced plans to acquire ITA Software for $700 million in cash in July.

Tom Barnett, former chief of the Justice Department’s antitrust division who now represents Expedia, said it would be difficult to craft a settlement to take the licensing assurances and intellectual property protection into account.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m saying it’s difficult,” said Barnett, a critic of the deal.

But Robert Doyle, an antitrust expert at the law firm Doyle, Barlow and Mazard PLLC, said a focus on licensing would mean that the deal would go through.

“That’s a key issue,” he said. “That would indicate that settlement has been proposed in some format and they’re testing it.”

Google has argued that since it does not compete against ITA Software, the deal would not affect competition in the online travel industry and, thus, is legal.

“We’re excited to inject more choice for consumers into the online travel space, and while we continue to cooperate with the Justice Department’s review, we are ultimately confident that this acquisition will increase competition,” said Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined comment on the investigation.

LOOKING AT MANIPULATED SEARCH RESULTS?

Early in the probe, the Justice Department’s antitrust division asked questions about allegations that Google favored certain websites in searches, sources close to the deal said.

Foundem, a British price comparison website, is one of several companies that have accused Google of manipulation results so that Foundem and other rival websites show up lower in search results. Users overwhelmingly tend to click on higher results.

The Justice Department asked companies about search fairness issues before and after Google announced in August that it was going to a “second request,” which essentially means that the antitrust probe of the deal would be more in depth.

Most of the questions came after the second request into the $700 million deal was announced, said one source who has been in contact with the Justice Department about the deal and asked not to be named so as not to jeopardize his relationship with that department.

“It’s a theory of harm that the DOJ is looking at,” said a second source, who also asked not to be named so as to not jeopardize his relationship with the Justice Department. “They treat their stuff differently than they treat other people.”

European regulators are also looking into Google’s search practices.

The ITA buy is part of Google’s acquisitions and recruiting spree as it aims to ensure its online products remain popular as surfers turn to new services like the wildly popular Facebook and wireless gadgets.

Source:http://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=91479

Insiders say Google may need to prepare for a court case over its travel software deal.

Last summer, Google made moves to acquire ITA Software, which makes the software that dozens of airlines and ticket sites use to make online reservations. Naturally, competitors took issue with the deal, and responded by creating FairSearch, to lobby the public and Department of Justine into stopping Google’s travel search scheme.

Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Google may have an antitrust lawsuit courtesy of the US Justice Department on its hands. “According to people familiar with the situation,” it hasn’t been decided whether the government will block the $700 million dollar acquisition, or sue Google for it.

When rumblings of government intervention first started surfacing, Google’s legal team decided to try its luck and invoke federal law that demands the Justice Department decide in 30 days whether or not it will take action against a deal. According to the Washington Post, Google feels it has sufficiently cooperated with government investigators, which has potentially set the stage for a court case. Bloomberg also reports government lawyers cancelled plans over the holidays to work on a case against the search titan.

Google is standing by its original statement, claiming the ITA deal will not result in squashing competitors. “While we continue to cooperate with the Justine Department’s review, we are ultimately confident that this acquisition will increase competition,” a Google spokesman told Bloomberg. In fact, Google has pledged that if it does acquire ITA, it will distribute ITA software to its competitors, which include Microsoft, Expedia, Orbitz, Kayak, and Travelocity, among others.

Google has consistently been challenged on its acquisitions, particularly in the last year. The company seemingly went on a shopping spree, scooping up companies like AdMob and DoubleClick. Despite consumer complaints, international scrutiny, and FTC investigations, Google walked away with both. It’s liable to this time as well: The Washington Post points out that the government has traditionally been wary of blocking acquisitions between non-competitors, which Google and ITA are (according to anti-trust experts). In lieu of a full-blown court case, it’s more likely Google will see a slap on the wrist and increased restrictions or government surveillance over the deal.

Source:-http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/google-could-face-legal-action-for-ita-software-acquisition/

American Airlines has hired ITA Software to help it use technology to offer more customized products to its passengers.

Over the next year, Fort Worth-based American will roll out various computer programs that will enable the airline to better manage its inventory and do more targeted offers of products, like hotel rooms to a passenger whose flight may be canceled.

“It allows us to take any combination of services that we sell, whether it’s carrying a bag for you, accessing the Admirals Club, purchasing Wi-Fi or food during your flight, and allow us to package those things more effectively and quickly and target them to an individual or group,” said American’s chief information officer, Monte Ford.

Financial details of the contract were not disclosed. Google has agreed to acquire ITA for $700 million, but Ford said that presented no obstacles to working with ITA.

American chose ITA because it could create a software platform designed for all distribution channels and could be modified to work with new technology, Ford said. He added that global distribution system companies, like Sabre and Galileo, also bid on the project.

American and online travel agencies, including Sabre, are locked in a dispute related to fees that the distribution systems charge the airline for each ticket or product booked through those systems. American has said it is trying to lower its distribution costs by having customers buy tickets and other products directly from the airline.

Read more: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2011/01/american-brings-in-ita-software-to-design-passenger-technology-platform.html#ixzz1AyN5T0R7

Several online travel firms have joined to fight against Google’s planned takeover of an airline booking software company.

According to key industry players, Google’s proposed $700 million buy-out of ITA Software Inc could pose a threat to competition in the sector. The group has said that the deal would lead to less innovation and higher prices within the online travel market.

Expedia Inc, Farelogix, Kayak.com and Sabre Holdings, which owns Travelocity, have joined in a coalition against the search engine giants acquisition of the software company. Dubbed FairSearch.org, the coalition has asked the Justice Department to challenge Google’s proposition.

According to Kayak CEO and co-founder, Steve Hafner, ITA’s technology has become the software of choice for many online travel industry players, including many of Google’s competitors for air travel searches.

Opponents of the deal say that Google would limit the access of ITA’s software to companies like Microsoft and others, which help power many of the online travel firms’ websites.

Google is arguing, however, that since it is not in direct competition with ITA Software, the deal is legal. It also stated that there are those in the travel industry that support the move.

Adam Kovacevich, a spokesman for Google, said that the acquisition would allow Google to provide more useful answers for users searching for flights on its search engine. He also added that the bid would increase traffic to online travel agencies websites meaning more potential customers.

Source:http://www.cheaphotelbookings.com/news/travel-firms-oppose-google-takeover-of-ita-software/31550.html

ITA Software picked up Student Universe.com as a client, its first new customer, albeit a relatively small one, since Google announced July 1 its intent to buy ITA.
The Waltham, Mass.-based travel agency, which negotiates private student fares from airlines and sells flights on a retail basis, as well, will use ITA’s QPX solution for low-fare search pricing and shopping.
Sabre had been providing inventory and search functionality to StudentUniverse, which says it’s the largest student online travel agency in the U.S., and ITA has taken over the search role, says Atle Skalleberg, the travel agency’s executive vice president.
“ITA will do a very big part of our volume when it comes to searching, pricing and shopping,” Skalleberg says.
He adds that StudentUniverse already had been negotiating with ITA before the Google acquisition announcement in July, but signed an agreement with ITA only recently.
Skalleberg declined to specify the length of the deal with ITA.
Asked whether ITA had given StudentUniverse assurances about ongoing access to the latest QPX enhancements if the Google deal closes, Skalleberg says the company would not have signed the deal unless it felt comfortable that ITA technology would continue to support future development.
Skalleberg says the ITA implementation was somewhat complex because the vast majority of the student travel agency’s inventory is private fares

Source:-http://www.tnooz.com/2010/10/27/news/student-universe-supplements-sabre-with-ita-software-for-search/

About a one-third of travelers nowadays visit Google, type in a travel destination and/or an airline and let the search engine tell them the best site from which to buy their flight. The vast majority of those search results point to sites running flight search software created by a Massachusetts-based company called ITA Software, among them the largest online travel bookers, such as Orbitz, Expedia, Hotwire and Priceline.

In July, Google announced that it was planning to buy ITA for $700 million, immediately drawing antitrust cries from many (but not all) ITA clients. These sites fear that if Google is allowed to build its own in-house flight search engine, much of those 30% of travel consumers will instead receive results that entice them to book through Google’s own service, massively cutting into the traffic being fed to the Orbitzes and Expedias of the world.

On Tuesday, the online travel powerhouses Expedia, Kayak, Sabre and Farelogix launched an alliance to lobby the Department of Justice, and the public, against Google’s purchase of ITA, arguing that the deal would give Google an unfair influence over the air travel market. Not only could Google’s own flight search detract from how these sites attract travelers on Google, but they fear Google could limit access to ITA products and services while keeping them for their own use. The alliance’s website, FairSearch.org, details a number of their interests in the market, and their concerns based on Google’s previous brushes with anti-trust regulators. They are also pooling their resources to put lobbying boots on the ground in Washington.

Interestingly, a number of interested parties have chosen not to join the alliance. Orbitz and Priceline have publicly supported the deal. Microsoft has opposed the deal privately in its own conversations with the Department of Justice, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

For its part, Google quickly came out defending themselves on Tuesday, claiming, among other points, that a Google flight search engine would not affect air fares because they are set by the airlines, not by ITA.

Source:http://nycaviation.com/2010/10/major-flight-search-sites-form-alliance-against-google-ita-software-deal/

Major online travel players Expedia, Kayak, Sabre and Fairlogix have banded together to oppose Google’s planned acquisition of ITA Software and ask the U.S. government to block it on the grounds that it will hurt competition and drive up prices.

The coalition, called FairSearch.org, argues that ITA Software’s air-travel flight-information products are used too broadly by online travel players and that letting Google control that technology will give it an unfair advantage over its rivals.

Specifically, FairSearch.org wants the U.S. Department of Justice to come out against the US$700 million deal, which was announced in July.

If Google becomes the owner of ITA Software, “the end result could be higher travel prices, fewer travel choices for consumers and businesses, and less innovation in online travel search,” the group said Tuesday in a statement.

Google countered with a blog post reiterating its claim that it will honor ITA Software’s existing customer agreements and work to add more partners.

Google also challenged the allegation that its ITA Software acquisition will trigger higher prices, saying that the two companies don’t compete, so consumer choice won’t be harmed. Google also argues that since ITA Software neither sets prices nor sells tickets, but rather analyzes that data, its acquisition by Google will not increase travel costs.

“In fact, by acquiring ITA we hope to build flight comparison tools that make it easier for users to compare prices and find the best possible deal,” wrote Andrew Silverman, a Google senior product manager.

Silverman also stated that Google has no plans to sell tickets directly, and is instead focused on driving traffic to airline and travel agency websites.

“We also believe that giving users better ways to search for flights online will encourage more users to make their flight purchases online, which will create more overall online sales for airlines and travel agencies,” he wrote.

Google also objects to the assertion that the deal will stifle innovation in online travel search, saying that the reason it is acquiring ITA Software is precisely to improve flight search technology.

In August, Google disclosed that it had received a formal “second request” for more information about the deal from the DOJ, meaning the agency is looking more closely at the proposed merger. At the time, Google said it remained confident that the DOJ will eventually give the deal the green light.

ITA Software customers include major airlines and online travel agencies, such as American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Kayak, Orbitz, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Microsoft’s Bing.

As soon as the deal was announced in July, industry observers speculated that government regulators might object to the deal for the same reasons now outlined by FairSearch.org.

The privately held ITA Software is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has about 500 employees. It was founded in 1996.

Google has said that ITA Software technology will help Google improve the quality of its travel search technology. Travel-related searches are one of the most popular on Google.

Source:http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/365751/travel_search_players_unite_oppose_google-ita_merger/

ITA Software, Inc., a leading provider of innovative solutions for the travel industry, today announced the availability of OnTheFly™ for Android. By extending availability of its airfare shopping mobile app to Android-powered devices, ITA offers new opportunities for airlines and travel distributors to incorporate the power of QPX™, ITA’s airfare pricing and shopping engine, into their branded mobile search platforms.

As with the OnTheFly app currently available for Apple iPhone® and iPod touch®, OnTheFly for Android offers powerful comparison shopping features including flexible airport selection, intuitive travel date selector and fine-grained control over search parameters. The airfare shopping-only version of OnTheFly enables travelers to easily shop for optimal airfares for any itinerary in the world and provides comprehensive choices to tailor the search and shopping experience. OnTheFly can be downloaded for free from Android Market.

“With the growing popularity of the Android platform among consumers and developers, we are providing our airline and travel distributor customers with new ways to take advantage of the QPX airfare shopping engine and drive new branding and revenue opportunities,” said James Russell, vice president of pricing and shopping products, ITA Software.

Source:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101021006060/en/ITA-Software-Launches-OnTheFly-Android

ITA Software, Inc., a leading provider of innovative solutions for the travel industry, today announced US Airways has deployed QPX(TM) across its call centers to further decrease transaction times and improve the overall customer experience across its website and reservations call centers.

US Airways has been using QPX on www.usairways.com since 2001 and ReShop(TM) in its call centers since early 2009. Now, US Airways is taking advantage of the rich features QPX offers in its call centers to provide improved call handling and customer service capabilities.

“There’s no doubt the addition of QPX to our call centers creates greater operational efficiencies. But customer satisfaction continues to rise dramatically as well,” said Kerry Hester, senior vice president, operations planning and support, US Airways. “We now have a more consistent brand experience, and we’ve made it easier for our customers to quickly find the information they need regardless of how they contact us.”

“US Airways is a valued, long-time customer and an excellent example of an airline that has taken advantage of ITA’s complete airfare pricing and shopping solution to ease the overall shopping experience for customers and agents,” said Gianni Marostica, chief commercial officer, ITA Software.

Source:http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/press-release/lcc_us-airways-deploys-ita-software-s-qpx-in-call-centers-1189607.html

The firms had reached a series of agreements with each other — Apple had deals with Google, Adobe and Pixar while Google had separate deals with Intel and Intuit — agreeing not to cold call each others’ workers, the department said.

Such agreements violate antitrust laws since agreeing not to hire away top talent could stifle competition for highly skilled workers and hold down wages.

“The companies engaged in a practice of agreeing not to cold call any employee at the other company,” the department said. “The complaint indicates that the agreements were formed and actively managed by senior executives of these companies.”

In a statement filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said the agreements were “anticompetitive because they eliminated a significant form of competition to attract high tech employees, and, overall, substantially diminished competition to the detriment of the affected employees.”

But Google discounted any possibility that its agreements pressed down wages and said that it had agreed only not to cold call workers.

“We continued to recruit from these companies through LinkedIn, job fairs, employee referrals, or when candidates approached Google directly. In fact, we hired hundreds of employees from the companies involved during this time period,” Google Associate General Counsel Amy Lambert wrote in a blog posting.

Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said that Intel was settling the matter to protect its business. “Intel does not believe its actions violated the law nor does the company agree with the allegations,” he said.

Intel recently settled an unrelated antitrust complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

The Justice Department is also looking at Google’s plan to create a massive online library. And it is assessing Google’s buy of travel software company ITA Software to determine if the deal violates antitrust law.

Source:http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-51732120100925

ITA Software, Inc., a leading provider of innovative solutions for the travel industry, announced today that it has teamed up with the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) to be the lead sponsor for the Massachusetts Aspirations in Computing Affiliate Award (MACAA). Starting today, any female in grades 9 – 12 residing in Massachusetts can apply for this award at www.ncwit.org/award, which will honor young women for their IT and computing-related achievements and interests. Deadline for submissions is October 15, 2010.

“With industry demand for qualified technical staff exceeding student interest by five times, the need to welcome more young women into technology is more urgent than ever,” explained Ruthe Farmer, director of strategic initiatives, NCWIT. “NCWIT is proud to welcome Massachusetts as our first Affiliate Award in the Northeast and excited to see the state’s tech community working together to serve its young women.”

Following the initial submission process, parent/guardian and school endorsements must be completed by October 22, 2010. Winners will be selected for outstanding aptitude and interest in computing and technology, proven leadership ability, academic performance and plans for post-secondary education. Entries will be judged by IT professionals from ITA Software and other local technology organizations.

“We wanted to play our part in scaling this award to encourage more female high school students throughout the state to pursue their passion for making computers do interesting things,” said Melissa Lawrence, director of human resources at ITA Software. “At ITA, we are proud to have established a culture that values technical excellence and diversity. We are committed to supporting initiatives to nurture tomorrow’s IT leaders so we jumped at the opportunity to be the first affiliate program on the East Coast.”

The award ceremony will take place in Cambridge, Mass. on Sunday, November 21, 2010. Each qualified award recipient will receive a variety of prizes and two trophies – one for the winner and one for their high school. One winner will receive a $10,000 scholarship from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Source:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100913005167/en

The Department of Justice is starting a probe into the proposed purchase of ITA Software, the online travel firm that helps travelers find cheaper airfares, by Google. The search giant has to get approval from the government for the $700 million deal, which was announced about 2 months ago. A probe into a deal this big isn’t unusual when antitrust fears have been expressed.

ITA Software provides its services through relationships with travel search engines, major airlines and travel agencies. Google is wanting to incorporate this technology into their own search engine so that travelers will be able to find tickets directly through them easier.

However, the Department of Justice is worried that Google’s ownership over ITA Software would give them too much control over the online travel market. Their review is focused on 2 key points – 1) if companies that already use ITA’s technology (Orbitz, Kayak and Expedia) will still have access to it, and 2) the impact of Google having the power to drive people to their own travel services.

Some of the companies that already use this technology have expressed their concerns to the Department of Justice. This includes Microsoft, whose Bing search engine uses the technology.

Google has tried to address some of these concerns, saying that they don’t plan to sell airfares directly to customers and would continue leading people to sites like Orbitz and Expedia for purchases. The company has also argued that any new travel services they create may send even more customers to 3rd-party websites to find good deals.

Source:http://news.carrentals.co.uk/google-ita-software-deal-probed-by-department-of-justice-34214057.html

Google bought ITA Software, one of the Web’s key providers of airline travel software, for $700 million in July, in a move that Google said would allow it to improve the way consumers find flight and fare information online.

The Justice department’s probe is at an early stage, the Journal reported.

Antitrust authorities are focusing on whether rivals would continue to have access to ITA’s data and whether Google would unfairly steer Web searchers to its own travel services, the newspaper said.

Government lawyers are asking executives in the online travel industry if Google could unfairly disadvantage potential new rivals by cutting off their access to ITA’s software.

Google had said earlier that the ITA Software deal should not raise antitrust concerns because it does not compete with ITA.

Source:http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23874946-competition-probe-into-googles-ita-software-deal.do

The US Justice department is looking into Google Inc’s takeover of airline ticketing software firm ITA Software Inc, to determine whether the deal would exert too much influence on the online travel industry, the Wall Street Journal said.

Google bought ITA Software, one of the Web’s key providers of airline travel software, for $700 million in July, in a move that Google said would allow it to improve the way consumers find flight and fare information online.

The Justice department’s probe is at an early stage, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the department’s review.

Antitrust authorities are focusing on whether rivals would continue to have access to ITA’s data and whether Google would unfairly steer Web searchers to its own travel services, the newspaper said.

Government lawyers are asking executives in the online travel industry if Google could unfairly disadvantage potential new rivals by cutting off their access to ITA’s software, the paper said, citing people familiar with the questioning.

Google had said earlier that the ITA Software deal should not raise antitrust concerns because it does not compete with ITA, the Journal said.

Google and the Department of Justice could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside regular US business hours.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/Justice-department-probes-Googles-ITA-Software-deal-Report/articleshow/6510831.cms