Oracle wins airline exchange contract

Oracle has won a key contract to supply e-commerce services to an airline industry business-to-business marketplace.

AeroXchange, whose founding members include Air Canada, All Nippon Airways, America West Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, FedEx Express, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines System and Singapore Airlines, expects to handle handle more than $45bn worth of purchases of goods and services, excluding aircraft and fuel.

Online exchanges have become big business -- almost $1bn according to research firm IDC. Companies like Ariba and Commerce One have fought fiercely over deals to supply technology to the exchanges, which have popped up in almost every industry.

Oracle, aiming to be the dominant B2B player, is just one of the companies posting stellar results on the boom.

The exchange will use Oracle's B2B exchange platform and technology to provide online auctioning, reverse auctioning, contract and spot buying capabilities, as well as collaborative supply chain planning. Oracle will provide the technology, functionality and hosting platform.

The deal is rumoured to be worth around $100m.

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