REDMOND, Wash. and LANGLEY, England, Microsoft Corp. and Travelport today announced they are teaming together to develop an integrated set of services targeted for the travel industry to address challenges faced by travellers, suppliers, and travel agents. Through the collaboration, Microsoft and Travelport will explore the development of services designed to improve the traveller experience and to provide airlines, travel suppliers, and travel agencies, including travel management companies (TMCs) and online travel agents (OTAs), with new revenue and cost reduction opportunities, broader distribution reach, and improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. The services are slated for Q1 2009.

"In bringing together Microsoft's rich, interactive technologies with Travelport's deep marketplace of travel content and informed choice, we are creating a completely innovative solution for the travel industry. This will improve the traveler experience with a new level of personalization and change how suppliers, TMCs, and OTAs reach travellers," said Geoff Cairns, worldwide managing director, Hospitality, Microsoft.

In the travel industry, Microsoft is focused on helping airlines and service providers deliver a highly personalized travel experience across all channels and from all devices. This includes helping service providers to better identify travellers, understand their individual preferences and needs, and build a strong emotional connection through all stages of travel.

Travelport is the leader in Web-based travel e-commerce and provides the most relevant, cost-efficient technologies and services available to participants throughout the global travel distribution chain. The company processes 1.1 billion travel transactions per day. More than 63,000 travel agencies, the world's leading travel suppliers and corporations globally rely on Travelport to drive productivity, lower operating costs and serve millions of travellers throughout the world.

This engagement builds on a history of Microsoft and Travelport working together on innovative technology solutions in the travel space. Previously, the two companies have collaborated to create ground-breaking solutions, such as Travelport's e-Pricing shopping technology, which was originally developed for Expedia and now benefits all Travelport customers, and Travelport Cache Control, which was developed with Microsoft. Travelport also provides the Microsoft corporate travel booking solution.

"We are delighted to partner with technology leader Microsoft to develop innovative travel solutions across multiple channels," said Keith Woodcock, senior vice president, Travelport GDS. "Like other ground-breaking solutions we have developed with Microsoft, the technology investment and development is a result of listening to our customers' needs and will ultimately benefit the traveler, travel agencies, airlines, and other travel suppliers."

About Microsoft in Hospitality | Microsoft's Hospitality Group enables the personalization of the connected traveler experience, leading to increased revenue streams by leveraging observed trends from loyalty and preferences data. Microsoft and partner solutions provide compelling, personalized traveler experiences – including on-demand entertainment and business productivity – on a familiar platform that most travelers already use at home and work. Through a combination of Microsoft- and partner-based solutions, the hospitality industry can turn data into insight, ideas into action and change into opportunity. More information about Microsoft's Hospitality Group can be found at .

About Microsoft | Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

About Travelport | Travelport is one of the world's largest travel conglomerates offering broad based business services to companies operating in the global travel industry. The company is comprised of Travelport GDS, a global distribution system business that includes the Worldspan and Galileo brands; GTA, a group travel and wholesale hotel business; Business Intelligence by Travelport, a data analysis business; and IT Services and Software, which hosts mission critical applications and provides business solutions for major airlines. Travelport also owns approximately 48% of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE:OWW) , a leading global online travel company. With 2007 revenues of $2.6 billion, Travelport operates in 145 countries and has approximately 5,500 employees. Travelport is a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and Travelport management.