Stories about: Swissair

Technopundits have predicted the arrival of "smart spaces" for years. Your car sends a message to a robot in your kitchen, so it can have your martini ready when you arrive home in the evening. A software agent on your LAN knows not to interrupt you with a phone call -- unless it's from your boss -- because you're working on a presentation for a meeting later that day.

FineGround Networks provides tools that help accelerate the performance of Web applications. As IT organizations move to adopt wireless devices and applications that leverage Web services, the need to actively manage latency across the network becomes paramount. In partial recognition of that fact, IBM Corp. recently announced a pact with FineGround concerning support for its WebSphere application server. FineGround Networks CEO Nat Kausik explains why customers such as Whirlpool and SwissAir are turning to his company to accelerate the performance of enterprise applications built for the Web.

You won't find any mention of FineGround Networks or caching technology sandwiched between the articles about Cameron Diaz or Madrid in Sky, Delta Air Lines' in-flight magazine. But without FineGround's ability to speed up the delivery of dynamic Web page content, your trip might lack food, beverages or a clean cabin.

High-speed Internet access in the sky could be on of those things that doesn't fit with the new realities facing the airline industry, which has seen a decline in passenger traffic and a sharp drop in revenues since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

If it seems like airports are a lot more crowded these days, there's a good reason: US Department of Transportation statistics show an average increase of almost 20 million passengers per year boarding planes at US airports during the 1990s. The swell has given rise to longer lines at checkout counters and border controls and spawned an organization that hopes to help solve the problem.

British Airways PLC yesterday announced a graphics-based seat-selection process for Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) phone users.

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG last week launched a mobile check-in service at 70 airports for frequent-flyer passengers who have bought electronic tickets and are equipped with cell phones that support the Wireless Access Protocol (WAP).

Orbitz, the online ticketing venture being set up by the nation's five largest airlines, this week named Jeffrey Katz -- who once headed the Sabre computerized reservations system -- to be its president, CEO and chairman. Until now, the startup company -- originally known informally as T2 -- had been run on an interim basis by executives from a consulting firm.

BOSTON (07/06/2000) - Jeffrey Katz, chief executive officer of Swissair AG, stepped down this week to take the top job at Orbitz.com, a travel Web site being developed by five major airlines.

While some industry observers have questioned the viability of the wireless Web, electronic-travel executives at yesterday's PhoCus Wright Inc. Investors Conference here said they're looking to make mobile technology a standard piece of the travel experience for business flyers.

The past few weeks have seen a flurry of new products and services for wireless phones based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). But analysts and users say enterprise adoption is still a while off.