Founded 1972 | Parent organization Ultra Electronics | |
Videcom International Limited is a United Kingdom travel technology company based in Henley-on-Thames, it designs, develops and provides modern computer reservations systems to airlines and the travel industry, specializing in the hosting and distribution of airline sales.
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The system is connected to the Global Distribution Systems of Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo, Worldspan and Abacus, which travel agents use to make airline bookings, and is also connected to other airline systems for interline bookings. The IATA airline designator for Videcom is U1.
History
Founded in 1972, the company originally manufactured computer terminals for many uses throughout the aviation and travel sectors including airline reservation centers, airport operations and travel agency systems. Over 450,000 computer terminals were manufactured between 1972 and 2002 and although refurbishments are still supported today with many units still in use globally at airlines and airports, the company diversified into airline software development in 1987.
In 1976, Videcom International along with British Airways, British Caledonian and CCL launched Travicom, the world's first multi-access reservations system, (wholly based on Videcom technology), forming a network providing distribution for 49 subscribing international airlines (including British Airways, British Caledonian, TWA, Pan American World Airways, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, SAS, Air Canada, KLM, Alitalia, Cathay Pacific, JAL) and some African Airlines to thousands of travel agents in the UK. It allowed agents and airlines to communicate via a common distribution language and network, handling 97% of UK airline business trade bookings by 1987.
The system went on to be replicated by Videcom in other areas of the world including the Middle East (DMARS), New Zealand, Kuwait (KMARS), Ireland, Caribbean, United States and Hong Kong. The Travicom multi access system was eventually replaced by Galileo in the UK and in 1988, Travel Automations Services Ltd (trading as Travicom) changed its trading name to Galileo UK and agents using Travicom were migrated to Galileo.
Since the late 1980s to the current day, Videcom has continued to develop products mostly related to airlines and airports, including terminal emulator software, airport check-in systems, Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE), Aircraft Weight and Balance systems, Unit Load Device management, and a modern Airline Reservations System, including an integrated Departure Control System.
In 2004, Videcom sold some of their standalone products, such as standalone DCS, Weight and Balance and the Common Use System, to Ultra Electronics in an effort to focus on a fully integrated hosted solution which could be used by larger airlines on a global scale.
The new product suite, which the company has provided to approximately 35 airlines since 2001, includes VRS, the Airline Reservations Systems and the new integrated Departure Control System and is used by regional and international airlines.
Products used by airlines today
Inventory Hosting
Internet Booking Engine
Ticketing
Global Distribution Systems Connected to:
Interline Sales
Reporting