Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) has announced that it is working with TravelSky, the leading provider of information technology solutions for China's air travel and tourism industry, to build the next generation of the Unisys Logistics Management System. The new version will be known as LMS Next Generation (LMS NG) and is expected to be available by the end of 2015.
LMS NG will provide a range of advanced features including additional mobile capabilities and proactive monitoring. The new version will incorporate an enhanced Java-based rules engine to help air cargo carriers more quickly respond to market opportunities because changes can be simply made to business process rules without the need to write code. LMS NG will be available via a Software-as-a-Service model or as a licensed product.
LMS NG will include several additional interfaces to assist air cargo carriers to create a fully electronic supply chain with their customers and partners, as well as to view constantly updated capacity data by flight and product. Such insight will allow carriers greater visibility into their supply chain so that they can quickly adjust pricing to maximize utilization of their available cargo capacity whilst driving profitability.
Mr Christopher Shawdon, vice president Logistics Solutions for Unisys, said: "In the competitive air cargo industry, carriers are seeking ways to more quickly respond to market changes in order to drive maximum capacity utilization. Our new pricing features will give air cargo carriers the same flexibility that passenger carriers get by being able to offer dynamic pricing based on date, service, flight or route."
Unisys is developing LMS NG in close consultation with InfoSky, a wholly owned division of TravelSky, which recently selected Unisys LMS as the basis of a hosted logistics management service for China's airlines.
Mr Li Aiguo, general manager InfoSky, said: "We enjoy a very successful partnership with Unisys, providing the robust and secure technology infrastructure required to support China's aviation industry. We are proud to collaborate with Unisys to combine the domain and technical expertise of both companies to develop LMS NG for the global market."
Unisys logistics solutions are used by carriers that move about 30 percent of the world's air cargo. In addition to the Logistics Management System (LMS), Unisys cargo solutions include Cargo Portal Services (CPS), In-transit Service Manager (ISM), and Cargo Revenue Accounting (CRA). Unisys cargo solutions are used by many of the world's leading carriers who collaborate via the Unisys Cargo User Group (UCUG). Unisys and UCUG members have worked with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for more than 20 years on initiatives such as e-Freight, Cargo 2000 and XML messaging.
Unisys has more than 45 years of experience providing advanced, mission-critical IT solutions to the aviation industry. Fifteen of the top 25 airlines – and more than 200 worldwide – rely on Unisys solutions.