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Alex Zoghlin, CTO of online travel company Orbitz,
faced some heavy hitters in 2002. He had to ensure
the company's bold IT strategy would work against
rivals Expedia, partly owned by Microsoft, and
Travelocity, which owns a portion of Sabre, a major
technology provider to the travel industry. Zoghlin
responded by helping design an automated,
self-service travel reservation system he says saves
money and increases customer choice.
Although Chicago-based Orbitz was founded by major
carriers United Air Lines, American, Continental,
Delta, and Northwest, Zoghlin's team still had to
develop an all-new technology strategy.
Established travel technology systems were based on
mainframe technology, Zoghlin says. The CTO built a cheaper system using
multiple Linux-based servers instead. "To bring costs down, we turned to
Linux machines," he says.
As a result of this new system, it became possible to offer customers many
more choices than they had previously, under the established systems.
"The number of options between New York and California are now
astronomical," Zoghlin says.
-- J.M.
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Related Links |
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25 Most Influential CTOs 2002 - InfoWorld honors executives with the leadership and vision to find a path out of difficult times
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Gene Rogers, Boeing
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Randy McCoy, CheckFree
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Kevin Vasconi, Covisint
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Dawn Meyerriecks, DISA
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Terry Milholland, EDS
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Julie St. John, Fannie Mae
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Norman Lorentz, Federal Government (OMB)
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Larry Biagini, General Electric
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Tony Scott, General Motors
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Duane Ebesu, Housing Works
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Mark Halstead, Keen
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Wade Hennessey, Kontiki
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Allan McLaughlin, LexisNexis
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John McKinley, Merrill Lynch
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Alex Zoghlin, Orbitz
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Max Levchin, PayPal
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Rodric O'Connor, Putnam Lovell
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Gerhard Eschelbeck, Qualys
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Mike Sayers, Reuters
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Dave Moellenhoff, Salesforce.com
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Phil Wiser, Sony Music Entertainment
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Phyllis Michaelides, Textron
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Jim Barton, TiVo
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Peter Tippett, TruSecure
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Rob Robless, United Air Lines Loyalty Services
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