Aeroplan Unveils Results from XML Initiatives With Reactivity

Aeroplan Unveils Results from XML Initiatives With Reactivity Live Webcast Demonstrates Secure, Rapid XML Web Services in Travel and E-Commerce BELMONT, Calif., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on its recent success in the travel industry, Reactivity, Inc., the leader in secure XML Web services deployment systems, today revealed how its Secure Web Services Deployment System has enabled Aeroplan, Canada's leading loyalty program, to generate unprecedented growth in both the non-air items and revenue generated from their rewards e-commerce catalog. Reactivity announced that Aeroplan will present a live Webcast on Tuesday, January 18 at 11:00 a.m. PST together with Reactivity to discuss their success. To attend the webcast, register at https://reactivityevents.webex.com/reactivityevents/onstage/g.php?d=921773583& t=a&SourceId=002. Spyros Kattou, e-business architect at Aeroplan, will show how others in the travel industry and beyond can generate meaningful results from XML Web services while preserving their existing back-end system investments. Aeroplan is managing air, car and hotel bookings from travel suppliers and creating a super PNR to manage the entire travel itinerary on behalf of Aeroplan's members, all in real-time. Reactivity provides Aeroplan with a single appliance that performs not only requests from these suppliers and partners but also performs the necessary protocol and format conversions on them for consumption by Aeroplan's existing back-end systems. For Aeroplan's e-commerce initiative and efforts to interoperate with the Open Travel Alliance XML specification, Reactivity performs the bidirectional schema conversion, mapping between OTA and their internal data format, and translates between SOAP over HTTPS and the XML over MQSeries employed by their back-end systems. Reactivity also provides IP filtering to restrict access only to partner systems and authentication using security tokens and X.509 certificates to prevent IP spoofing, as well as SSL encryption for secure transport. Reactivity also performs data validation on all requests to protect Aeroplan from malicious and accidental threats, and insulates Aeroplan from standards proliferation and variable adoption rates. "Reactivity enabled us to exceed our corporate objectives for online non-air redemptions using Aeroplan miles. In addition, Reactivity delivered a painless way for us to securely expose our substantial investment in XML applications as OTA-compliant Web services," said Aeroplan's Spyros Kattou. "Reactivity makes it easy for us to keep up with the OTA specification as it continues to evolve, while ensuring that we consistently enforce security, leverage existing infrastructure and accelerate the time to market for our SOA applications." As a result of deploying Reactivity, Aeroplan has already saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in development costs alone, and has accelerated their pace to expand their redemption rewards business 500 percent by 2007. Aeroplan has more than six million members and a growing network of more than 100 accumulation partnerships with airline, hotel, car rental, financial, telecommunication, retail, services and entertainment partners. Members worldwide claim a new reward every 20 seconds. "The travel and leisure industry is extensively interconnected, from agencies to reservations to customer service and loyalty programs, and to achieve the greatest efficiencies these businesses need to link their existing information systems quickly and securely," said Brian Roddy, vice president of engineering at Reactivity. "While the OTA schema provides the lingua franca for the industry for doing this, businesses are still struggling with the more practical aspects of achieving OTA compliance while maintaining the privacy and security their customers demand." Live Webcast The live Webcast will be presented on January 18, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. PST, and will feature Spyros Kattou of Aeroplan and Reactivity's Brian Roddy. They will discuss how Aeroplan was initially able to deploy secure XML Web services in under 40 days from pilot to production to deliver on its business strategies. Mr. Kattou will also discuss Aeroplan's results and how Aeroplan is currently expanding their use of the Reactivity Secure Web Services Deployment System with their existing XML Web services infrastructure to speed adoption and use of the OpenTravel Alliance specification. About Aeroplan Aeroplan, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. (the parent company of Air Canada), is known as one of the most rewarding loyalty programs in the industry. Aeroplan has been voted the world's Best Frequent Flyer Program for the second consecutive year at the 2003 OAG (Official Airline Guide) Airline of the Year Awards in April 2003. About Reactivity Reactivity provides the leading deployment infrastructure used by enterprises to realize the promise of Web services. Reactivity's family of products enables businesses to secure, provision and operate XML and Web services more efficiently and effectively, accelerating their time-to-market and gaining competitive advantage. Reactivity has unique experience with the largest and most demanding Global 2000 enterprises in financial services, publishing, travel and other industries. Reactivity is located in Belmont, California, and can be reached at http://www.reactivity.com/ , +1-650-551-7800 or info@reactivity.com. Reactivity is a trademark of Reactivity, Inc. All other products and services mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies. Source: Reactivity, Inc. CONTACT: Patrick Corman, +1-650-326-9648, patrick@cormancom.com; or David Finkelstein, +1-917-523-1161, david@cormancom.com, both of Corman Communications for Reactivity, Inc. Web site: http://www.reactivity.com/ ------- Profile: International Entertainment