Orbitz implicates Oracle in site outage

Orbitz was hit by a site outage Wednesday, making the popular travel site unavailable to visitors at the height of the busy summer travel season.

The outage, which began early Wednesday, is related to problems with an Oracle database on which Orbitz runs its site, Orbitz spokeswoman Carol Jouzaitis said. The companies are working together to fix the problem but were unsuccessful as of late Wednesday, she said.

The outage is the most severe glitch Orbitz has experienced since launching about two years ago, Jouzaitis added.

Oracle is working with other Orbitz technology providers to fix the problem, said Oracle spokeswoman Kathleen Noonan. She declined to name the other companies involved. No Orbitz customer data has been lost or corrupted as a result of outage, she added.

"As with all Oracle customers, we are working closely together with our partners and Orbitz to resolve the issue as quickly as possible," Noonan said in a statement.

The Orbitz outage comes at a sensitive time for Oracle, whose "Unbreakable" marketing campaign touts how impervious the company's technology is to such problems. Oracle also is in he midst of a hostile bid to buy rival PeopleSoft and is seeking to project a customer-friendly image.

Orbitz, which competes with Expedia and Travelocity in the online travel-booking industry, announced on Monday that it hired the former head of technology at eBay and Federal Express to oversee its technology operations and help the company provide "a superior customer experience."