ON my last trip I spend a hour with Tom Rollo, US fearless leader of Skidata. He told me about their growing distribution network and other parking stuff, but he piqued my interest with a "different" project they are pursuing. That of providing ticketing services for theme parks. One of the first they are doing is for Anheuser Busch, the beer people. Seem AB also owns a number of theme parks (like Sea World) and Skidata is providing automated ticketing services for them.
People who go more than once can get an ID card and use it, along with their thumb print (biometrics), to get through the entry gates. If they buy on line, they can print their bar coded ticket out and use it. Its a lot fancier than I have just described, but you get the idea. Skidata has come up with a kiosk that has virtually every type of reader know to man (bar code, biometric, prox, you get the idea).
This is a bit of a spin off of the original market that gave the company its name — lift tickets for ski resorts.
Tom is a great host and I was sorry that I had to rush off to the airport — he had a bit of the "water of life" in his bottom drawer. Next time.
JVH
