<s>
CONFIRM	O
was	O
an	O
ambitious	O
IT	B-General_Concept
project	O
supposed	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
single	O
computer	O
reservations	O
system/global	O
distribution	O
system	O
used	O
by	O
airline	O
,	O
rental	O
car	O
,	O
and	O
hotel	O
companies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	B-General_Concept
is	O
often	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
case	O
study	O
as	O
an	O
example	O
of	O
a	O
major	O
failure	O
in	O
project	O
management	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
system	O
was	O
pursued	O
to	O
develop	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
create	O
synergies	O
between	O
AMR	O
,	O
Marriott	O
,	O
Hilton	O
Hotels	O
Corporation	O
and	O
Budget	O
Rent-A-Car	O
and	O
fully	O
integrate	O
and	O
unify	O
the	O
reservation	B-Application
systems	I-Application
of	O
the	O
companies	O
involved	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
all	O
had	O
high	O
hopes	O
based	O
that	O
AMR	O
would	O
expand	O
on	O
the	O
extremely	O
successful	O
SABRE	B-Application
computer	B-Application
reservation	I-Application
system	I-Application
that	O
had	O
helped	O
American	O
Airlines	O
create	O
a	O
sustainable	O
competitive	O
advantage	O
after	O
the	O
deregulation	O
of	O
the	O
airline	O
industry	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AMR	O
also	O
told	O
its	O
partners	O
that	O
it	B-General_Concept
needed	O
another	O
15	O
to	O
18	O
months	O
to	O
complete	O
the	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CONFIRM	O
runs	O
on	O
two	O
IBM	B-Device
3090	I-Device
mainframes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
other	O
mainframe	O
houses	O
a	O
DB2	O
relational	O
database	O
in	O
an	O
MVS	B-Application
(	O
an	O
IBM	O
mainframe	O
operating	O
system	O
)	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
database	O
contains	O
decision-support	B-Application
information	O
such	O
as	O
customer	O
histories	O
and	O
pricing	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
problem	O
was	O
to	O
tie	O
CONFIRM	O
's	O
transaction-processing	O
facility-based	O
central	O
reservation	B-Application
system	I-Application
with	O
its	O
decision	B-Application
support	I-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
