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Thursday, 13 March, 2003
Out-of-the-box airline carries over offbeat approach to IT
"We treat everybody like a crew member, not like an employee"
Thomas Hoffman, NEW YORK
What do you call a relative
startup that runs 40% of its operations on beta software in an industry that's
bleeding millions of dollars a day?
JetBlue's emphasis on holding down costs and turning flights over quickly mirrors the low-cost, aggressive personality that its IT department has developed.
"I have nothing but Windows," says Cohen. "No Unix, no AS/400s. It helps us keep our total cost of ownership low."
By maintaining a Windows-only environment supported by roughly 250 servers, JetBlue's 60-person IT staff can keep its application development and support costs relatively low, says Cohen. JetBlue's IT budget is roughly $US19 million, or 3% of the company's $US635.2 million in revenue in 2002.
Cohen also works feverishly at hammering out joint-development, early-adopter and other beta-testing sorts of arrangements with Microsoft. His goal is to hold down software licensing costs while procuring cutting-edge technologies that provide a good fit with the business. JetBlue is currently either running or testing state-of-the-art Microsoft systems ranging from Windows 2003 Server to Microsoft Exchange/Titanium email to Office 11.
