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LA QUINTA, Calif.---Gallaudet Technologies announced the release of Version 2 of their "Do Not Call" software introduced in October. This upgrade adds several new features making compliance with the new Federal Trade Commission laws easy for anyone who may have to call potential customers. The program, that has a free, 7-day trial period, is available for download from the www.DNCLookup.com website. After the 7-day free trial, the one-time registration fee is just $29.95.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn - UnumProvident Corporation announced today that its insurance subsidiary in the United Kingdom, Unum Limited, has reached a new arrangement with the Swiss

HARTFORD, Conn.--Three years of rising property- casualty rates have finally had a favorable impact on loss reserves, substantially reducing estimated deficiency, according to the latest annual study on the subject by Conning Research & Consulting.

HARTFORD, Conn. -Travelers Property Casualty Corp. and Applied Systems, Inc. announced one of the industry's most significant implementations of industry-standard, ACORD-based agency/carrier interface (SEMCI) processing to support the transition of business relative to recent agreements between Travelers and other carriers.

HARTFORD, Conn.--Insurity Inc., a ChoicePoint company, today announced that Insurance Company of the West (ICW), a business unit of The ICW Group, has selected Insurity's Commercial Intellisys property/casualty policy processing services to support its nationwide commercial P&C business. ICW's primary decision drivers were Insurity's large existing client base, and a track record of similar applications already in production servicing the wider industry.

PARSIPPANY, NJ--MFXchange Holdings, Inc. (MFX) announced the launch of its end-to-end application service provider (ASP) commercial lines solution. The comprehensive processing system is Web-based and features the many benefits of ASP-based products. MFX's Ray Roy, Chairman, explains, "MFX's founding mission is to build technology solutions specifically to meet insurance carriers' needs for increased productivity, shorter processing timeframes and lower costs. We provide this, in part, through ASP processing that does not require large capital outlays for hardware and software and is highly cost effective."

DES PLAINES, Illinois -- The Board of Directors of the Alliance of American Insurers and the Board of Governors of the National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) have adopted a resolution approving a merger agreement between the two national insurance trade associations.

(St. Louis, MO-December 11, 2003) Genelco Software Solutions, a division of Liberty Insurance Services Corporation and a developer of software applications for the life and health insurance industry, has joined IBM's ISV Advantage Initiative, a program designed to provide independent software vendors (ISVs) with technical and marketing support to help meet the specific needs of small and medium business (SMB) customers.

POOLESVILLE, Md., Dec. 12-- The insurance Fraud DetectionSystem (FDS), developed using Visual Analytics, Inc.'s award winning product, VisuaLinks, was successfully launched this past week by the Korean Financial Supervisory Services, FSS. The FSS announced that they have implemented and will be using this system to detect fraud through the integrated analysis of insurance-related data including accidents, contracts and claims.

HARTFORD, Conn., Dec. 11-- Aetna InteliHealth, Aetna's online consumer health information resource, and Aetna Navigator, the company's self-service website for members, have received 2003 eHealthcare Leadership Awards for Health/Healthcare Content and Interactive Site, respectively.

Most consumers admit that purchasing life insurance is not something they relish-mainly because of the issue of their mortality. For life insurers, selling their various products has been difficult as well, but this shortcoming has little to do with consumer resistance.

The insurance industry appears poised to remove the "technology laggard" label. Despite a back-to-basics management philosophy brought on by the two-year economic slump, insurance companies continue to move forward with their Internet strategies.For the third consecutive year, Internet-related categories ranked at the top of Insurance Networking News' "Best of the Newest" survey, a poll of 17 technologies rated by insurance company executives and industry experts. The panel rated each technology based on its impact on carriers' operations and its level of innovation.

As 2003 comes to a close, it's a great opportunity for executives to gauge the current business climate and identify trends that will follow through to the new year. For insurance carriers, the near-term outlook is considerably more upbeat than it was 12 months ago.That was the crux of the message delivered by Frank Coyne, ISO chairman, president and CEO, to attendees at the recent ISOTech conference. Coyne's keynote highlighted significant indicators of the firming insurance market: Premiums rose 11% in the first half of 2003; the industry's annualized return on net worth rose a robust 9.7% during the first six months of the year, a significant improvement over the 1.8% gain in 2001; and, the industry's combined ratio is projected to improve to 101, nearly 15 points higher than 2001's level of 115.9.

The old adage of "What, me worry?" isn't part of the lexicon of CIOs, CTOs and other senior level executives in charge of IT functions at life/health and property/casualty firms, according to a survey completed by Celent Communications Inc. in partnership with Insurance Networking News.Twenty executives from small, medium and large carriers paint a picture of insurance IT organizations in a double bind of diminished resources and increased demand this year and anticipated again in 2004.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for carriers' legacy systems. At least that's the conclusion of a survey conducted by Guidewire Software Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based Web-based claims system provider.Three-quarters of property/casualty and workers' compensation carriers are engaged in significant claims system projects, according to Guidewire (see chart). "Mid-sized carriers are really biting the bullet-looking at what's in front of them and starting to take steps," says James Kwak, vice president of marketing at Guidewire. "So we're seeing many of them looking at replacing their claims systems."

As insurance companies develop a blueprint for compliance to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, an alarming number of U.S. corporations admit they are still uncertain about how they plan to adhere to the mandate.Moreover, industry experts believe that insurers who disregard the role of technology to comply with the Act might be in for a rude awakening.

In the past, insurers could write off fraud expenses with investment income and capital reserves. But those days are over. Reduced investment income and reserves have forced insurers to face such operational bugaboos as fraud and subrogation head on. Fortunately, insurers ahead of the curve have identified technology-based strategies to get to the heart of the matter.

For anyone who has ever owned a car, it's an inevitable question: Continue pouring money into the old jalopy, or cut your losses and buy a shiny new model complete with six-cylinder engine, alloy wheels and keyless entry?

Unlike many insurance companies that reach a point of pain with old technology, Berkley Risk Administrators Co. LLC (BRAC) was not under duress when it decided to migrate to a new platform.

By implementing a next-generation new business process, a typical life insurer that issues 40,000 policies a year could save more than $1.3 million annually.This was one dramatic finding of a report entitled "The Evolution of Rule-Based Life Insurance Underwriting Systems," recently released by Boston-based consulting and advisory firm Celent Communications Inc.