Quoted travel software company Datalex has entered a strategic alliance with CarTrawler, a privately held Dublin firm that provides online car rental services to airlines and travel agencies.

The alliance means CarTrawler's "dynamic" cross-selling system, which offers car rental from numerous providers when visitors are booking flights or holidays, will be available on the distribution system offered by Datalex.

Aimed at airlines, travel agencies, hotel and resort operators, the Datalex system facilitates the procurement, packaging, promotion and distribution of travel services through retail outlets, call centres and websites.

"Incorporating the CarTrawler procurement capability will enable rich, normalised and real-time content procurement from multiple car rental sources," said Ornagh Hoban, vice-president of marketing and strategy at Datalex.

CarTrawler chief operating officer Mike McGearty said the ultimate outcome of the alliance would be "an increase in car rental revenue" for Datalex customers.

CarTrawler is controlled by Rathgar-based businessman Greg Turley. Its system, which is incorporated directly into the booking engines of client websites, is used by 95 airlines and more than 1,500 online partners. The system offers car rental deals from 450 hire companies with 17,000 rental locations.

The share price of Datalex was unchanged yesterday at 56 cent on the Dublin market.