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Background
The ViewData terminal emulation protocol remains the dominant mechanism for the distribution of travel products via travel agencies. At the heart of the ViewData networks lies a 'switch' that enables any agency to connect to any tour operator's host system, based on the entry of a mnemonic code. The Telewest and Energis networks use 'switches' produced by RWA Ltd. RWA also offer a ViewData Switch product to others, particularly vertically integrated tour operators, that need these facilities within their own corporate networks.
ViewData Switch Solution
RWA's ViewData Switch provides full viewdata switching capabilities, based on the entry of a mnemonic code into a menu page. The ViewData switch includes the following capabilities:
- Generation of MIS and usage reports by host and agency, including the ability to produce 'billing' reports.
- Support for all viewdata emulators used in travel agencies.
- Support for access via 3rd party menuing systems, where direct access to hosts is not available.
- Flexible options for alternative routes, failovers and other facilities to maximise service delivery and minimise outages.
- A scaleable, fault tolerant and resilient architecture, designed for zero outage over the lifetime of the solution.
- Configurable mnemonics and mnemonic groups, based on agency group. Each agency group may be assigned a custom menu page, and have their own set of mnemonics.
- Host concurrency limits.
- Inactivity timeouts and maximum call duration limits configurable by host and agency.
The Viewdata Switch solution runs on either the RedHat Enterprise Linux (x86) or Sun Solaris (SPARC) platforms.
