Datalex uses Internap to speed airline’s retail business

According to the International Air Transport Association, airline profit margins in 2014 will reach just 2.6 percent. Faced with intense industry competition, airlines are seeking ways to drive higher margin revenue opportunities through enhanced retail experiences across digital channels, which in turn means that many of them have to move to online trading and cloud-delivered services.

One of the vendors now servicing that need is Datalex, which provides high performance internet infrastructure services. Airlines use these to build tailored and optimised pricing, shopping and merchandising services that helps them manage and deliver optimal travel shopping experiences for all of their products and services.

To help keep the performance levels of its services up to the mark, the company has now selected Internap to provide the infrastructure scale and performance it needs to support the company’s fast-growing, international airline customer base where it is required to process billions of real-time transactions.

Datalex will use Internap’s managed hosting, private cloud, colocation and cloud object storage services, as well as its route-optimised Performance IP transit, to ensure that multi-channel travel transactions are completed seamlessly through the Datalex Travel Distribution Platform (TDP).

“As demand for our travel retail solutions continues to expand globally, it is critical that our Internet infrastructure can cost-efficiently scale and deliver a flawless experience for our airline clients and their travel customers,” said Robert Kenny, director of support and hosting at Datalex. “After a rigorous review of numerous providers, we chose Internap based on its ability to provide a flexible hybrid environment, backed by performance and low-latency guarantees, that meets our unique application needs today and will support our growth in the future.”

Datalex must manage massive amounts of customer transactions while ensuring the highest levels of reliability for its airline clients. As a result, the company sought an infrastructure solution that could meet its strict requirements for increased control, customisation, scalability and performance.

With Internap helping to manage much of the server procurement, deployment and configuration, Datalex will be able to focus on the development and growth of its platform, while streamlining resource needs and costs.

Datalex will run other applications and databases within Internap’s colocation and private cloud environments and will use Internap’s AgileFILES cloud-based object storage. Additionally, Internap’s global Performance IP connectivity will ensure that the billions of retail transactions going through Datalex’s ecommerce platform are delivered over fast Internet paths to provide a reliable, seamless guest experience regardless of geographic location.

The hybrid infrastructure environment for Datalex is hosted in Internap’s premium downtown Atlanta datacentre. Designed with advanced power and energy standards, the facility has achieved Green Globes and Energy Star certifications and features a modular, high-density design to economically support long-term customer growth, with capacity for up to 18kW power draw per cabinet.