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Dear Louise: I thought you would find this interesting -- recent press release concerning Excambria's Margin Maker v2.0 product lineup. There is a good deal of new product information at www.excambria.com. Best regards, Chris Hanson Chief Operating Officer Excambria, Inc. 3 Waters Park Drive, Suite 225 San Mateo, Calif. 94403 (650) 377-0526 (650) 377-0630 fax (650) 576-9211 mobile Excambria Ships Margin Maker v2.0 Travel Distribution & Profitability Product Suite Integrates Internet, GDS on Travel Professional's Desktop, Cuts Distribution Costs for Suppliers San Mateo, CA(January 4, 2002). Excambria, Inc., the leading provider of applications to integrate legacy and Internet systems for the travel industry, today announced the availability of Margin Maker v2.0, the industry's new distribution and profitability product suite. The patent-pending Margin Maker v2.0 family of products allows travel agents and corporate travel buyers to simultaneously access content through the legacy global distribution systems (GDS) such as Sabre and through the Internet, where travel suppliers are increasingly putting content that is not in the GDS. While the travel professional continues to work in his native GDS environment, Margin Maker v2.0 technology translates the GDS commands into Internet protocol and searches websites and other TCP/IP-connected data sources. The technology allows the travel professional to view on a single screen, with a single GDS command, content from the GDS, the Internet, and third-party databases. The inventory and fares are displayed side by side on a single screen, allowing travel professionals to select the inventory and price that create the maximum value for their clients and themselves. "Travel professionals were constantly being blindsided by customers who had seen cheap fares on the Web," said Excambria CEO Vajid Jafri. "The travel professionals' work environment is GDS-centric, and workflow is so tightly bound to their legacy global distribution system that inventory available on the Internet remained largely inaccessible to them." Margin Maker v2.0 products solve this problem by seamlessly integrating Internet inventory and resulting transactions into agency and corporate travel workflow, with no additional commands or separate searches required by users. Travel agency owners report that a solution such as Margin Maker v2.0 had been the highest priority request from their reservation agents during the last twelve months. Yet GDSs are not eager to field such a technology, fearing it will divert transactions from their own systems. Travel suppliers have welcomed Margin Maker v2.0 products, as a way to place their products onto the travel professional's desktop without high GDS distribution costs. An estimated 80% of all travel sales occur on these desktops. Supports New Merchant Model Travel agency owners also appreciate Margin Maker v2.0 features that allow them to seamlessly mark up low-cost Internet and net-basis fares. "Many of the fares are so low that our agents can add a $400 mark-up at time of sale, and it's not visible to the customer," said one agency owner who has used Margin Maker v2.0 in pre-release. "We continue to add our regular $20 service fee separately, but the real money is in those margins that we add. This technology allowed us to make the transition to merchant, and not a commissioned agent." Availability, Pricing and Service Margin Maker v2.0 Agency Profitability Tool is available now through Excambria's network of nationwide resellers, as well as direct from the company, on a five-year license basis. Excambria offers a comprehensive range of service and support for the Margin Maker v2.0 product line, including on-site field service within the United Statesand lifetime telephone technical support. Premium field service upgrades available for Margin Maker v2.0 Agency Profitability Tool include extended service contracts and installation. Excambria also offers a range of servers preconfigured for Margin Maker v2.0 use, with pre-loaded proprietary software and hardware that install in minutes with no network downtime. These rack-mountable, GDS plug-and-play systems are designed for travel agencies and corporations of any size. About Margin Maker v2.0 Product Suite Excambria's Margin Maker v2.0 family of products is a distribution and profitability suite that offers high ROI and immediate benefits to travel agencies, corporations and travel suppliers. Products include: Margin Maker v2.0 Agency Profitability Tool Margin Maker v2.0 for the Corporate Travel Manager Margin Maker v2.0 Enterprise Suite Margin Maker Narrowband Channel Distribution Suite Excambria is the leading provider of integrated legacy system and Internet travel inventory sales applications used by some of the most successful travel suppliers and professionals to raise profits, cut costs and increase customer satisfaction. Excambria products are based on Excambria's state-of-the-art, patent-pending technology and platform-neutral approach that supports all global distribution systems, CRSs and back-office accounting and management systems. About Excambria, Inc. Excambria is the leading provider of patent-pending software that integrates legacy systems with Internet content from a wide range of sources, on a single screen and with a single entry into the legacy system. In most large industries workflow, reporting and management tools have evolved from and are driven by the industry's legacy systems -- yet more and more critical information is appearing on the Internet, outside the reach of these legacy systems. As a first step, the company is establishing its presence in the travel industry. Excambria's proprietary technology, Margin Maker v2.0, provides travel professionals a split screen that allows them to compare Internet and net-basis fares side by side with retail fares from their Sabre or other legacy system, in a single window. Both corporate travel purchasers and travel agents give the product rave reviews. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.excambria.com. For Further Information: Vajid Jafri Chief Executive Officer Excambria, Inc. (650) 377-0511 jafri@excambria.com If you prefer not to receive emailed updates from Excambria, please hit reply and type unsubscribe in the subject line.
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