Lastminute turns to open source for site overhaul
Online travel company Lastminute .com is using new open-source technology to rebuild the front-end architecture of its Web site, as part of a major site overhaul that will begin in the spring. Web services firm Jamkit has been advising Lastminute on the new open-source Web server ZOPE, which provides a toolkit for content management. The system is written in Python, which Jamkit called an "up and coming" programming language to rival Java.
"Lastminute saw the template system could do what it wanted very quickly," said Seb Bacon, technical director at Jamkit. "It was attracted by open source, as it's a flexible platform and it'll have control over the code. It wasn't really a cost-driven decision." Jamkit has built a proof-of-concept framework for Lastminute, to help the firm test the robustness of the system and ensure that it can support the high levels of traffic expected over the next couple of years. "It's replacing all of its front-end templates with the ZOPE system," said Bacon.
"We consulted on its application design and Lastminute said it needed localisation and internationalisation, as well as the ability to separate its business from design decisions," he added.
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