Ultra Electronics and Materna Choose Collaboration Instead of Competition in an Increasingly Complex Airport Systems Market

MANCHESTER, England and DORTMUND, Germany, March 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Customers are crying out for vendor relationships they trust to support their complex airport operations

In a market that is now evolving more rapidly than at any time in the last 20 years, Ultra Electronics Airport Systems und Materna continue to strengthen their partnership in the field of Airport Operations and Passenger Processing Systems.

As the airport IT market diverges, requiring a broad range of technologies in the passenger processing space concurrently with operations systems capable of delivering efficiency in complex terminal environments, the vendor challenge is to deliver excellence in both fields. Ultra and Materna's solution to the market challenge is collaboration, not competition.

Ultra Electronics - already recognized as the leader in Airport Operational Systems - will invest further in this product suite, and the business process expertise within the organization. Simultaneously, their highly successful cloud-based, Baggage Management System will be offered as the industry solution to IATA's Resolution 753.

Materna, pioneers in self-service kiosks and automated bag drop solutions, have integrated the UltraCUSE (CUPPS) platform to expand their Passenger Processing capability. This enables a single, harmonized environment for Materna's entire set of Passenger Processing technologies: from agent-facing (CUPPS); to passenger self-service (CUSS and SBD). Moreover, Materna will lead further developments and application certifications for all Passenger Processing solutions.

Sèbastien Jodeau, Managing Director for Ultra, confirms that "Airports and airlines are increasingly frustrated with the implementation of airport technologies. You have to draw the conclusion that the current vendor approaches are not delivering the solutions that airports need. We believe that our collaboration offers a better way to implement business solutions that actually improve airport processes and efficiency".

Individually, Ultra and Materna are already recognized as offering business solutions to the industry, not simply products alone. Together, they will now offer their customer community the full breadth of Airport Operations and Passenger Processing expertise - whilst retaining a single contractual relationship and a common service approach - giving customers quality and choice.

Gary McDonald, President, North America at Materna Inc., said "Materna shares with Ultra a common culture of engineering excellence, a commitment to service quality, and to forging deep and strategic relationships with selected customers. We have invested in the partnership with Ultra and the market response has been amazing. Customers are crying out for a vendor relationship they trust to support their complex airport operations".

Both Materna and Ultra will be at the Passenger Terminal EXPO in Amsterdam, 14-16 March 2017 and welcome customers to their respective stands who want to know more about the opportunities that collaboration presents.

About Ultra Electronics Airport Systems

Ultra Electronics Airport Systems is a global provider of transportation infrastructure operational performance systems. Its wide ranging portfolio of operational, passenger, baggage and business intelligence solutions is underpinned with a comprehensive suite of services for systems integration and managed service provision.

About Materna 

Under the brand Materna ips (Integrated Passenger Services) and as one of the most well-known suppliers for airports and airlines worldwide, Materna delivers solutions for automated passenger handling at airports. In addition to the European market, Materna's Integrated Passenger Services portfolio also focuses on the North-American market, with its own subsidiary in Orlando, Florida, and on the Asian market.

Enquiries:

Paul Drury, VP, Americas
Ultra Electronics
+1-941-928-0046
paul.drury@ultra-as.com
www.ultra-as.com

Christine Siepe
Materna
+49-231-5599-168
Christine.Siepe@Materna.de
www.materna-ips.com