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The Contracts Update section includes announcements of contracts insurance information technology companies have signed with customers in recent weeks. Contract news can be faxed to Insurance Networking News magazine at (312) 913-1366 or by electronic mail to Stephen.Dwyer thomsonmedia.com Accenture

The Chubb Group of Cos. is making processing E&O insurance coverage easier for agents with an intuitive, customized Web-based solution that's proving to be a smart investment.Providers of errors and omissions (E&O) insurance coverage market the product knowing that corporations are eternally liable for their mistakes and oversights.

Until recently, grid computing was the domain of high-performance computing sites that calculate petabytes of data for particle physics problems or modeled engineering simulations. Now, grid computing is going mainstream, opening up new possibilities for carriers looking to support their growing application portfolios while keeping a lid on information technology budgets.By distributing processing workloads across networks of already existing computers, companies can attain higher performance processing power for relatively little additional investment.

Carriers that provide coverage for rare, valuable items understand that it's ill-advised to assign appraisers who specialize in fine art or jewelry to assess the valuation of an expensive item outside their realm of expertise.Selecting the wrong appraiser can result in an inaccurate assessment-one that not only negatively impacts an insurer's risk exposure, but also can affect the price a policyholder pays for coverage.

As insurers "Web-enable" their core applications to provide agents, claims professionals, customer service representatives and customers access to data and transactional functions, poor Web site performance becomes more than an annoyance to end users. It becomes a critical component to a company's success.A London-based firm that operates a hub for cedants, brokers and reinsurers to collaborate, share data and transact business online realized the importance of this issue when London users of its Singapore-hosted data management center (DMC) application reported slow page refreshes and data downloads.

Cedar Rapids--Fiserv Insurance Solutions, a unit of Fiserv, Inc. and an innovative solutions provider for the insurance industry, announced availability of the 1.2 version of Fiserv Advanced Billing, a Web-based system utilizing the J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) platform.

NEW YORK-- A poll of attendees at The Conference Group's 16th Annual Executive Conference for the Property-Casualty Industry has found that executives expect changes in the brokerage and regulatory models to have fundamental and long-lasting effects on the industry, including downward pressure on industry compensation, with pricing likely to increase.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--Computer Sciences Corporation

BOSTON--Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) has purchased the Interwoven Enterprise Web Change Management solution, powered by Interwoven OpenDeploy, to enable faster, accurate and cost-effective synchronization of a disaster recovery site for its member and provider Websites. BCBSMA also purchased the Interwoven Self-Service solution to maintain fresh, personalized content on its Provider Portal.

PORTSMOUTH, NH--Bottomline Technologies today announced the expansion of the company's financial Business Process Management (fBPM) solutions. These fBPM solutions are designed to streamline paper-driven order-to-cash and purchase-to pay processes -- enabling organizations to more effectively manage their financial assets and trading partner relationships.

Newark, Calif.--Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the world's leading provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk, today announced that it provided the risk analysis for a securitization of U.S. hurricane and earthquake risk by The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.

Seattle--Safeco announced it is once again expanding the product breadth available on its single-platform online sales center Safeco Now. In a breakthrough move for small-business insurance sales, the company has introduced functionality allowing independent distributors to quote and issue commercial multi-peril (CMP) policies in as little as five minutes.

Tata Consultancy Services, a global IT services firm based in Mumbai, India, has been named a "Preferred Partner" by ISO for the ISO Rating Service. ISO is a leading provider of products and services that help measure, manage and reduce risk. As a result, TCS' flagship insurance framework, Integrated Insurance Management System (IIMS), will be expanded with the content of ISO circulars--loss costs, forms assignment and rules based on state regulations--supported and validated by ISO's industry experts and actuarial staff.

One problem facing insurers who write commercial automobile coverage is that in states with mandatory auto liability reporting, also known as ALIR, carriers must report policy changes and cancellations electronically to state Dept. of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Ken A. Crerar, president of The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, issued a statement in response to testimony at the Nov. 16 hearing of the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Management, the Budget and International Security.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's Corp. has identified four insurers that it believes distorted their financial statements by using "financial risk reinsurance." In a report released Nov. 16, S&P claims that the financial results of Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co., Argonaut Group Inc., CNA Financial Corp. and Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. were "materially distorted in an accounting context that contrasts with Standard & Poor's perception of the true economics of the transactions."

Sapiens International Corp. N.V. a provider of business-rules based insurance solutions based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., has signed a strategic agreement with ISO to offer the ISO Rating Service, a new rating system and rate-management offering for the property and casualty industry, integrated to its Policy INSIGHT policy administration solution.

Camilion Solutions, a Toronto-based provider of product management and underwriting solutions for the insurance industry, announced Nov. 15 a "Preferred Partnership" with ISO Rating Service. The partnership will enable Camilion to provide automated ISO-validated rating, forms and statistical information to property and casualty insurers, through Camilion Underwriter.

Exstream Software Inc., Lexington, Ky., announced today an agreement with Kanematsu Electronics Ltd. (KEL) in Tokyo to market the company's products in Japan. Under the terms of the agreement, KEL will offer Dialogue, WebVerse, AFP Studio and future Exstream products as part of its solution set for managing document information infrastructures. Exstream chose Kanematsu for its strong customer relationships in the Japanese market, specifically in the mail order, insurance, security, credit card and utility industries, the company stated.

AQS Inc., Hartland, Wis., announced the release of AQS/advantage 2.0 and AQS/advantage Integrator at the ISOTech conference in New Orleans. AQS/advantage 2.0 includes a new, streamlined user interface designed to improve clients' workflow efficiency, productivity, and profitability. AQS/advantage Integrator is an ACORD XML certified solution that utilizes Web services for publishing policy and statistical data between AQS/advantage and clients' enterprise systems.