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Bowstreet Inc. has developed a technology that automates how online service providers can distribute customized products and services.
With Bowstreet Syndication Factory, due this week, online service providers will be able to aggregate products and services and distribute them through a broad variety of affiliates and partners, according to officials at the Tewksbury, Mass., company.
In addition to the ability to customize services dynamically, Bowstreet Syndication Factory features tools that enable partners to embed and customize services, self-service tools for customizing services from partner to partner, and a tool for managing the distribution of partner profiles.
Like other software developers, Bowstreet is driving Syndication Factory toward a vertical industry, namely, the online travel business. According to company officials, $3.5 trillion was spent on travel last year, and $80 billion of that was purchased through the Internet.
“This … takes advantage of what Bowstreet has been doing for the last four to five years, and weve applied that to the travel space,” said Michael George, Bowstreets president and CEO.
Anna Pollock, co-founder and CEO of DestiCorp Ltd., a London-based travel services company, called Bowstreet Syndication Factory “the best thing that has happened to the [online] travel industry because it solves the biggest problem. Its a tool you can use to aggregate supply information from multiple sources and then deliver it across multiple channels in a highly personalized way.”
In addition to launching Syndication Factory, Bowstreet will announce this week a deal with Opodo Ltd., a London-based online travel service that Pollock described as “the Orbitz of Europe.” Opodo will use the Bowstreet technology to customize services from the hotels, airlines and car-rental agencies it works with and offer them via partner Web sites.
“For Bowstreet, the Opodo deal is a significant relationship in itself,” said analyst David Marshak, senior vice president of Patricia Seybold Group Inc., in Boston. “It provides the company with an entry into an area where there are clear pain points to be addressed and is a clear demonstration of Bowstreets strategic vision and architectural leadership.”
But thats not all. Bowstreet officials said the company plans several products due over the next month or so that build on Syndication Factory. Upcoming technology will include new versions of Bowstreet Factory and Bowstreet Portlet Factory, as well as Bowstreet Framework Factory.