27 April 2010

Google on way to becoming major player in on-line travel?

A low-profile software company that includes travel programs in Boston may be worth $1 billion to Internet search giant Google Inc.
 

Google Inc. is in talks to acquire ITA Software Inc., a maker of travel programs used by companies including Orbitz Worldwide Inc. and Microsoft Corp., reported Bloomberg News.
 

ITA Software, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, may seek about $1 billion, according to sources close to the negotiation.
 

"ITA Software Inc. makes sophisticated software for major online travel services such as Orbitz.com and Kayak.com and airlines such as Continental Airlines Inc. and Air Canada. They depend on ITA software, which allows them to organize complex airfare information for online shoppers," reports the Boston Globe.
 

"ITA has a reputation as a company that is on a quest to solve some very big problems in the travel industry,’’ said Philip Wolf, president and chief executive of PhoCusWright Inc.
 

The company, which was originally named Internet Travel Agent Inc., was founded in 1996 by computer scientists from MIT.
 

By David Wilkening
 

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