The GE401-402 Innovative Product Design & Development courses help prepare Bilkent students for "life after graduation" by giving them the opportunity to learn about project development and management. In the courses, students from different departments work together as teams, with each team developing its own project through all the stages from basic concept to marketable product.

This year, one team of students working under the name "Merdane Entertainment" is developing a new internet ticketing system for cinema tickets, which they are calling "BiletSys." Süha Serkan Somer (EE) is Merdane Entertainment's CEO. Murat Boğazkesenli (CS) serves as the company's COO/Software Developer, Bahadır Kemaloğlu (CS) as Software Developer, Mehmet Kök (EE) as Hardware Developer, Tulga Kalkan (COMD) as Designer and İrem Sevgör (ECON) as Financial Manager.

BiletSys is an improvement over the current internet ticketing system. Today, many people prefer to buy their cinema tickets over the internet using their credit cards. However, moviegoers still have to line up at the theater box office to receive their tickets.

The team intends to change this through the system they have developed. BiletSys allows ticket buyers to choose the seats they want. In addition, it features a club membership system. With the help of its smartcard mechanism, BiletSys users can simply stop at a kiosk in the entrance to the movie theater and get their tickets printed immediately, by means of the kiosk's card reader.

“BiletSys will make people forget where the box office is," states Merdane's CEO Serkan Somer. "Once it's up and running, people will see its advantages and start using it."

To find out more about the project, you can visit http://www.biletsys.com and http://ge402.bilkent.edu.tr/biletsys

Pınar Kefeli (COMD/III)