Press Release

OpenJaw's xDistributor connects Opodo to car and hotel partners

Dublin, Ireland, 30th May 2005 -

Opodo, the Pan-European online travel company, has chosen OpenJaw Technologies xDistributor middleware platform to enable it to offer its customers greater choice by directly connecting their internet booking engine to multiple car rental & hotel suppliers.

xDistributor allows Opodo to connect to partners using OpenTravel Alliance (OTA) XML messaging and includes a sophisticated business rules engine to enable fast and easy modification of business logic without programming changes.

In addition, OpenJaw has also supplied its hotel content database to Opodo which manages the aggregation and searching of static content from Opodo's hotel suppliers.

Consequently, Opodo's on line customers now not only have more choice when it comes to booking car and hotel services but also enriched functionality such as fully inclusive pricing and richer content on their award winning sites.

Opodo's CEO Simon Vincent said: "xDistributor has proved to be an extremely flexible system allowing us to quickly and easily integrate new suppliers and manage our business rules effectively. In production, it has proved to be very reliable, and going forward we will continue to utilise the platform to incorporate additional new suppliers, thereby ensuring our customers have the widest choice of content and excellent prices."

John Lambe, OpenJaw's Chief Technology Officer added "Opodo's choice of xDistributor clearly validates our approach of building the travel industries first XML standards based middleware platform with an integrated Business Rules Engine. This has provided huge benefits to our customers including faster development, vastly improved reliability and increased flexibility to adapt to changing requirements".

xDistributor is in production with many blue-chip customers and is a state-of-the-art, world-class middleware solution for supplier connectivity, distribution channel management and dynamic packaging.

About Opodo:
Opodo addresses the real needs of today's traveller by offering an unbiased and competitively priced online travel service for world travel. With access to flights from nearly 500 airlines, over 45,000 hotel properties, 7,000 car hire locations, package holidays, city breaks, lifestyle holidays, ski deals, comprehensive travel insurance and value added services such as airport parking, with Opodo you really can 'Travel Your Way'.

Opodo was created by nine of Europe's leading airlines - Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, KLM and Lufthansa. Amadeus, the travel technology company based in Madrid, took a 55% controlling interest in the company in June 2004, which increased to 74% in March 2005.

Opodo launched its first site (www.opodo.de) in Germany in 2001, and its UK site (www.opodo.co.uk) and French site (www.opodo.fr) in 2002. Other companies within the Opodo Group: Quest Travel, (one of the UK's leading independent long-haul travel specialists), Karavel, (a leading French online tour operating company) Eviaggi (Italian online travel agency) and Travellink (Nordic online travel agency).

About OpenJaw Technologies:
OpenJaw Technologies Ltd. (http://www.openjawtech.com) headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, develops software for travel companies based on XML and Web Services technology. OpenJaw's products include xRez Internet Booking Engine, and xDistributor, a rules based middleware platform for supplier integration, distribution channel management and dynamic packaging. OpenJaw's customers include Galileo, Opodo, American Airlines Vacations, Aeroplan, RADIUS - the global travel company, Gohop.com and Budget Travel.

For OpenJaw enquiries please contact:
Declan McGuinness
tel: +353 (1) 882 5444
email: declan.mcguinness@openjawtech.com
web: www.openjawtech.com