Amadeus’ new cloud service to make GDS faster and more agile

Amadeus says its new cloud-based software will speed up its global distribution system and make it more agile to cope with peak demand without lag. The technology provider has extended its partnership with VMware, and deployed a private cloud on … Continue reading →

Amadeus says its new cloud-based software will speed up its global distribution system and make it more agile to cope with peak demand without lag.

The technology provider has extended its partnership with VMware, and deployed a private cloud on its Integrated OpenStack platform after around two years of developing the technology.

The company hopes Amadeus Cloud Services will improve performance of the systems used by travel agents and travel management companies to pull flights, hotel beds, ground transport and other extras or upgrades such as adding leg room.

The cloud-based server means Amadeus can add more capability easier in times of need, meaning it’s less likely for systems to run slowly when lots of agents are using it at the same time (globally, Amadeus records up to 55,000 transactions per second).

Using the VMware system, Amadeus can now reduce application deployment time from weeks to under an hour.

Wolfgang Krips, senior vice president, global Operations, Amadeus, said: “We are really excited that we are together on a journey toward the new generation of platforms that will help shape the future of travel.”

Amadeus has worked with VMware for more than 15 years.

“Amadeus Cloud Services enables us to be innovative and to really have the end-to-end responsibility for what we are doing,” added Krips. “Stability is one important aspect here, and products like VMware Integrated OpenStack and NSX help us to achieve the level of stability our customers expect.”

Speaking to Travolution, Amadeus’ Udo Sebald added: “This technology will provide better response times on things such as the reservation system and availability. Our system runs 24/7 and there are 12,000 changes a month. Now, with the cloud, if you are a north American company booking something in Europe, it will reduce the chances of a price changing or availability going.

“It will be faster, more agile and more efficient which will minimise disruption.”

Sebald added that the cloud based platform meant capability could be shifted around, making it easier to make changes faster. In principle, travel agents might not see much difference, but Amadeus hopes that is the case as the purpose of the VMware partnership is to keep its ever-evolving platform running smoothly at all times.

“Our users are constantly evolving,” Sebald added. “If you think about yourself as a traveller, you probably have different requirements than you had two years ago.”

The changes, he said, also make it easier for Amadeus to automate the process of deploying more capability to where it is needed.

“We have the chance to take the human out of the equation,” he said. “We also collect a lot of data which gives us the chance to apply artificial intelligence to analyse our infrastructure and its health. That will help us predict dangerous situations and act on them before it becomes a problem.”