The Open Travel Alliance is focused on the industry wide interoperability issues of our members. A major factor in that is API Chaos. API issues span more than just message schemas, which will continue to be a focus of Open Travel, they include the complexity of the hundreds to thousands of bespoke APIs our members deal with. Another barrier to interoperability is the effort to discover what APIs are out there and if they are a match for a member’s need. To better meet the needs of our members, Open Travel is rolling out a development portal where members, and those wanting to connect to members, can list their APIs. More than a directory, the options will be to list schema, to provide mock API services for that schema, or to provide live APIs to a member’s test infrastructure. The latter meaning real data and functions. This will provide a platform where connections between prospective partners can be evaluated in a low cost and low risk environment. This will provide companies the ability to evaluate newer API technology, including OTA 2.0, as well as the functionality of posted APIs. This is not a production capable platform and users will need to move on to more formal agreements between partners and platform vendors as their efforts progress.
Private showings with current Open Travel members have started. More detail on the use and Ts&Cs will be forthcoming.