16 March 2001
Business Wire
Travelers face a world of potential trip disruptions, from disease outbreaks that close tourist areas and earthquakes that shut down airports to unreliable phone systems and dangerous train lines.
Until now, business and leisure travelers had no one-stop resource for identifying and managing such travel interruptions. iJET Travel Intelligence, based in Annapolis, MD, today opened the world's first Global Travel Intelligence Operations Center dedicated to monitoring the world and alerting travelers when travel disruptions arise.
"Natural disasters, health concerns and safety issues are part of the fabric of travel," said iJET Chairman and CEO John Power. "Our unique service helps travelers avoid or manage problems with timely, personalized travel reports and alerts. We now have the state-of-the-art facility needed to produce and distribute our intelligence and support travelers during their trips."
Modeled on U.S. government intelligence-gathering systems, the multi-million-dollar, 24/7 facility allows iJET to gather information from more than 3,000 sources worldwide, then analyze, verify and distribute only intelligence that is likely to affect travelers. The result: Travelers and the professionals who assist them receive concise, actionable intelligence - before and during travel - without sifting through reams of irrelevant information.
iJET's Operations Center resembles a NASA command room: Banks of dual-monitor computer stations link each analyst and editor to iJET's proprietary database and allow instantaneous access to news feeds and human sources from around the world.
Above the operations floor, five 64-inch television screens broadcast breaking news worldwide.
"The watch operation is our nerve center," Power said. "This center enables our regional and subject-matter experts to monitor news around the globe and quickly transform that news into intelligence that will help travelers make informed decisions." Like the world's best news organizations, iJET independently verifies every piece of intelligence to ensure its total accuracy and timeliness.
iJET analysts have an average of 17 years experience; experts in health, security, transportation and other fields come to iJET from the CIA, National Security Agency, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. State Department, corporate security providers and similar organizations - a veritable intelligence agency for the traveling public.
iJET's WorldcuePro service launches April 1, providing travel professionals (such as travel agents, corporate travel managers, security directors and travel medicine specialists) with 24/7 access to iJET's intelligence on health, security, transportation, entry/exit requirements, environment, communications, language, financial, legal and culture.
On June 1, iJET will launch WorldcueDirect to provide individuals with customized travel intelligence reports based on each traveler's specific itinerary and personal profile.
To date, in-depth intelligence reports have been reserved - at a high price - for top government officials and corporate executives. Through Worldcue, iJET now brings the same sophistication to its clients for a fraction of the cost.
About iJET Travel Intelligence
iJET, a privately held company based in Annapolis, MD, is the first intelligence organization for the travel industry. Using expertise and technologies drawn from the intelligence, travel and media communities, iJET has built a Global Travel Intelligence Database that is constantly updated to keep clients apprised of travel conditions worldwide.
iJET received funding through a Series A preferred round in August 2000. Lead institutional investors in the Series A round were PA Early Stage and EuclidSR Partners. PA Early Stage is a family of venture funds that makes investments in seed, start-up and early stage technology-based companies. It is headquartered on Safeguard Scientifics' (NYSE:SFE) corporate campus in Wayne, PA. EuclidSR Partners is an early stage venture capital firm with three decades of experience funding technology-based companies. It has offices in New York and Pennsylvania.
For a downloadable image of iJET's Operations Center, visit their Web site: www.ijet.com, and click on the "media" icon.
CONTACT: Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown Public Relations, Orlando, Fla., 407/875-1111 Gregg Laskoski, gregg_laskoski @ ypb.com or Will Wellons, will_wellons @ ypb.com or iJET Corporate Communications, Annapolis Matt Gaffney, 410/573-3860 gaffneym @ ijet.com or Don Vetal vetald @ ijet.com
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