CIO Sessions: John Payne, San Francisco International Airport

In the latest CIO Vision Series interview, I talk with John Payne, CIO of San Francisco International Airport, about the day-to-day security challenges he faces running IT for the airport. He also discusses the airport’s green strategy, disaster recovery scenarios, deploying SOA and tech innovations that will improve the services for travelers, concessionaires and the various government agencies policing one of the world's busiest airports.

I asked Payne, who took on the San Francisco Airport job a few weeks before 9/11, what the future air travel experience might be like down the road. He compared it to the subway experience, with as few interactions as possible with airport personnel:

You are able to move through security in a way that you are not wanded anymore, you don’t have to take off your clothing or your shoes. You are able to walk through the sensor panel and they will direct you to a place where you need to be padded down, if that’s the case or is needed and you don’t really talk or touch anyone until you board the airplane and that might be the experience in the future, time will tell.

Payne also gives me some insight into why the airport doesn't have more electrical outlets for those of us who need to charge our laptops while waiting for those delayed flights to commence.