The Promise of Information Technology in the Travel Industry
Authors: Brenda L. Dietrich, Jane L. Snowdon and Joann B. Washam
http://domino.watson.ibm.com/library/cyberdig.nsf/Home

This research aims to reveal the responsibility of information technology in helping the travel industry survive in the midst of increasing global forces. With these global forces, companies in the industry have been driven to change and adapt quickly to remain competitive. Furthermore, the study cited three applications that will transform the travel industry and these are: network computing, combination of electronic ticketing and smart cards, and corporate travel management. The study also showed how information technology would make a better difference in the said industry. It proved how people’s lifestyle (travelers) would change when they adapt to the new world driven by information technology.

Indeed, IT has made travel-related transactions convenient, less time-consuming, and easy to access. On matters of business, IT has help companies reduce their production cost while boosting productivity. With travel industry, IT will make them almost invincible to market pressures such as increasing demands and inflation. At the same time, they will be able to improve their service towards consumers.


Dynamic Outsourcing of Services
Author: Michael Strobel
http://domino.watson.ibm.com/library/cyberdig.nsf/Home

This research intends to identify the requirements for dynamic outsourcing of services in an electronic market. The concept involves the two enablers for dynamic outsourcing, interoperability and automation. Electronic market, not limited to national or geographical boundaries, can be used to increase the efficiency of market coordination for services. Unlike traditional outsourcing, dynamic outsourcing involves a set of provider organizations competing in an e-market. At the time of service request, consumer organization chooses one provider among the set which will perform the service. The author cited three frameworks for interoperability standards. These are the eCO, E-Speak and BizTalk. The study shows that dynamic outsourcing process is not economically feasible due to the immature state of interoperability.

Generally in the acquisition of services, consumers would look for the best offer among others. This is why clients do not rely only on one provider. They tend to seek and gather different sources for them to compare and choose. This scenario also happens in an electronic market. However, online customers are left with a single choice of provider. But with the dynamic outsourcing of services, a set of provider organization will be involved. Service offers and prices coming from these organizations are ought to impress the client. After a series of comparison, clients will now choose the best. For this reason, dynamic outsourcing of services is very promising in an electronic market. I hope that further research by the authors would make this possible in the years to come.

Automated Performance Problem Determination by Observing Service Demand
Authors: Sei Kato, Tashiyuki Yamane and Takahide Noagayama
http://domino.watson.ibm.com/library/cyberdig.nsf/Home

The research aims to develop a new approach to detect and determine performance problem in a distributed computing system. Current IT systems are composed of heterogeneous components:

• Network devices from multiple vendors
• Multiple operating systems
• Various vendor middleware
• Composite application software

Performance varies with individual user request since these systems are frequently accessed by general public. This makes detecting and identifying of performance problems difficult and time-consuming for distributed computing systems.

Observing the values of service demand as a way to detect and determine performance problems was proposed in this study. The authors conducted tests in two environments: test environment and production environment. An automated performance problem determination system was developed by researchers in which machines were localized with a performance problem by capturing the network data which flows through the target distributed computing system.