Despite claims by IBM that Air New Zealand is replacing its Microsoft email clients with the open source email application Bynari, the airline has no plans to do so at this stage.
Air New Zealand acting CIO Andrew Care says the airline doesn’t want to disrupt its Outlook client environment because that would mean changing the familiar end-user look and feel for the airline’s staff. Air New Zealand runs about 4000 Outlook clients.
However, Air New Zealand is testing Bynari as a possible replacement for Microsoft Exchange at the back end of its email system.
Earlier this month, as part of an announcement that Air New Zealand is installing a zSeries mainframe running Linux to replace150 Compaq servers, IBM claimed that Air New Zealand is also replacing its Microsoft email clients with Bynari.
Care says the airline may replace Microsoft Outlook “further down the track” but not in the near future.