Sabre has sealed a long-term partnership with Microsoft to expand its cloud-based distribution and retailing solutions, weeks after it signed a similar agreement with Amazon Web Services.
The deal will see Sabre’s commercial applications migrated to Microsoft Azure. “The cloud presents an opportunity to rapidly innovate, create and deliver new business value for Sabre and our customers,” said Joe DiFonzo, Sabre CIO.
The agreement is also expected to help Sabre better harness the power of its data and apply artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics to create new services for hotel, agency and airline customers.
As Sabre continues to evolve its cloud strategy, it says its customers will be able to offer travellers more personalised and integrated experiences – especially key as it works to innovate Beyond NDC and deliver next-generation retailing and distribution solutions.
“Cloud technology is critical to our development of a microservices architecture, which will offer our customers bite-sized functionality that can be used independently or combined to build large, complex applications with accelerated speed to market,” said Vish Saoji, Sabre CTO.
Through the Microsoft Azure agreement, Sabre’s cloud transition will enhance the stability and security of its products, and a multi-faceted cloud approach will allow Sabre products to intelligently distribute workload across geographies, resulting in better performance and ensuring continuous service availability.
Sabre and Microsoft partnered earlier this year on the pilot launch of an A.I.-powered chatbot, Ella, that explores how AI can help travel agencies better serve travellers by fulfilling their most common service and support requests with smart technology.
