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. Return to InfoWorld’s 25 Most Influential CTOs 2002 Technology Industry