A year ago, faced with stiff pressures to reduce costs and increase production, Penn National Insurance began searching for a robust solution to handle its document management functions for its different business lines."It wouldn't become our enterprise solution overnight, of course," says Timothy Caskey, senior systems analyst for the Harrisburg, Pa.-based insurer. "But ultimately it would become our print engine-the document composition and printing tool for the company."

VERIO ALIGNS WITH ARSENAL TO PROVIDE EXPANDED DATA PROTECTIONVerio Inc., an Englewood, Colo.-based managed hosting provider, has expanded its data protection and managed storage service offerings through a partnership with Arsenal Digital Solutions, Cary, N.C. Verio's managed storage and data protection services include remote data backup and restore; data center backup and restore; managed storage area network solutions; and database backup.

WEALTH RISK MANAGEMENTThe Chubb Group of Insurance Cos., Warren, N.J., has selected New York-based Risk Control Strategies to support its new Signature Suite offering of luxury personal risk management services. Signature Suite is designed to help identify potential threats and help affluent individuals protect their families and wealth. Risk Control Strategies will provide Chubb's high-net-worth and family office customers with a complimentary personal risk assessment. Risk Control Strategies will also offer Chubb's clients an array of services including cyber crime investigations, identity theft prevention and response, and premise security strategy and implementation.

Blue Bell, Pa. - As ID fraud, privacy and compliance with security-related regulations continue to shake the mind set of how financial institutions think about securing their business operations, experts at Unisys Corp. foresee the following five trends that will help banks and insurers rebuild eroding customer trust, and maintain a competitive edge in 2006 and beyond:1. Coordinated, "industrialized" fraud attacks will continue to rise causing more government intervention and pushing financial institutions to work together on common standards to fight increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals.

Hartford, Conn. - The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., is customizing its approach to the technology sector with the formation of a Technology Practice Group, which will leverage The Hartford's existing line of technology insurance products to serve both current and future players in the growing market. The new group will be headquartered at the company's home office in Hartford, Conn. It will be staffed by a team of underwriters located throughout the country, as well as legal, claim, product and risk management professionals, the group provides the tools, support and know-how to help agents protect their technology clients from a wide range of rapidly-changing business risks.

Framingham, Mass.– Financial Insights, an IDC company, has released its annual report identifying the Top 10 IT initiatives that will have key strategic importance for insurance organizations worldwide in 2006.The report, titled "Top 10 Strategic Initiatives for 2006: Insurance Industry Must Pick Up The Pace," describes these initiatives, examines why they will have an impact in 2006 and explains why they should be on the minds of business and technology executives at insurance companies and vendors serving the industry. Namely, the top 10 strategic initiatives for insurance are the following:

Competitive pressures will force insurance companies to get serious about rationalizing the number of operational systems they support, notes a report issued by research and advisory firm Financial Insights, a Framingham, Mass., IDC company. The focus on rationalizing operational systems is one of the top 10 IT initiatives that will have key strategic importance for insurance organizations worldwide in 2006, according to the firm.

Framingham, Mass. - Companies ranging from regionals to multinationals will spend 2006 wringing more efficiency from their data storage infrastructures and holding down costs through information lifecycle management (ILM) rather than improving security, according to the "2006 Storage Budget Survey" released by GlassHouse Technologies, a provider of enterprise storages services.Despite a rash of high-profile security failures in 2005, nearly 100 companies in every size category--with storage budgets from less than $10 million to $150 million and above --ranked improving their storage infrastructure usage as either their first or second concern.

Pittsburgh - A full 90% of carriers have adopted some form of Web Services within their information technology architecture, and 58% of those have adopted the industry-specific ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) XML standards as part of their Web Services initiatives.These are the results of a recent survey of top insurance carriers conducted by SEEC Inc., a provider of business component software for the insurance and financial services industries.

Columbus, Ohio - Customers of Nationwide can now monitor their damaged vehicle repairs online through Nationwide AutoWatch--an Internet-based software tool. AutoWatch is currently being piloted in multiple states and may be rolled out as an optional service in the coming months."The Web site enables customers to log on 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to monitor their vehicle at different points during the repair process at participating Nationwide/Allied Insurance Blue Ribbon Repair Shops," says Terry Fortner, Nationwide associate vice president of claims.

Chicago - InsuranceNoodle Inc. has received U.S. Patent Office notification that the patent application claims relating to innovations for its "Methods and Apparatus for Selecting an Insurance Carrier for an Online Insurance Policy Purchase" have been allowed for issuance within the next few months."We are extremely excited the Patent Office has made this decision after four years of extensive application review," says InsuranceNoodle CEO Kathryn Emmerson. "This approval--as well as the fact that more than 2,500 agencies across the country are active NoodleNetwork partners--supports and validates our proprietary, Web-based technology platform and its capability to provide fast, efficient online quoting from multiple carriers for a variety of commercial products."

Washington, D.C. - The Federal Emergency Management Association's National Flood Insurance Program has launched a Web site to provide educational materials and other new content to insurance agents.

London -- Companies that outsource their IT systems are increasing their potential vulnerability to security breaches causing possible long term damage to their business, according to London-based insurer ACE European Group Ltd. (ACE).ACE has uncovered a lack of awareness among many European businesses of the increasing risks that outsourcing poses to their networks. ACE is also aware that there is a degree of uncertainty among many businesses, both as to the level of protection given to their computer systems and the cover provided by their existing insurance policies.

Cupertino, Calif. - Software security provider Symantec announced today that it completed its acquisition of Houston-based BindView Development Corp., a provider of agent-less IT security compliance software.

Stamford, Conn.- Following a period of cost cutting and reactive spending, insurance organizations with more than $1 billion in revenue will be even more cautious when making their IT spending decisions in 2006, according to Gartner Consulting's Worldwide IT Benchmark Service.

This year may be the year of consolidation and legacy renewal when it comes to insurance carriers' IT spending, according to industry analysts. And IT budgets will increase slightly over 2005, although there may be trimming back in some areas.The wild card will be the impact caused by Katrina and other hurricanes that wrought such devastation in New Orleans, Florida and other locales in the Southeast.

Listening to an insurance executive talk about replacing an old mainframe-based administration system is a lot like listening to a farmer talk about getting rid of an old tractor.It still pulls a heavy load, but competing farms-especially the larger ones-are bringing in faster models with advanced features that enable them to produce higher yields more efficiently. But these new tractors cost a lot of money and change the way work is done on the farm. How can a farmer afford the new equipment, learn how to use it, modify the work processes, and get all the crops sown and harvested on nature's strict schedule?

In our conservative, risk-based marketplace, change is often described as an oxymoron. But thanks to free enterprise, keeping up with change is not only necessary, it's critical to your success. Perhaps the greatest change has taken place in technology, not only because of automation and the Internet, but because it's finally being recognized for what it is: a critical ingredient to successful business operations.Perhaps Mike Byam put it best during a recent Insurance Networking News Virtual Trade Show session. The vice president of e-business & technology transformation at The Hartford's Financial Services Group said: "The line is becoming blurred between IT and the business. At some point, IT won't be the focus of the discussion. The focus will be one of several elements comprising successful business strategies."

Over the past two years, many carriers, either to their dismay or bewilderment, saw key software vendors fall under new ownership. And it hasn't been simply a case of small fish being eaten by larger fish. Some of the largest names in the software business have been caught in the net. PeopleSoft and Siebel Systems, giants in their markets, for instance, were scooped up in acquisitions.Mergers and acquisitions are always sprung on the market by surprise, and it's difficult to predict or sense when a change in ownership may be pending. What's certain is that such market moves can disrupt even the most meticulously laid plans of IT executives.

AIM Technology, a San Francisco-based provider of operational performance management software, has become a member of the Avaya DeveloperConnection program, offered by Avaya Inc., Basking Ridge, N.J. AIM Technology develops AIMCall, an application suite designed to optimize the operational performance of call centers. AIMCall's data analytics tool and workflow and notification capabilities augment Avaya's Call Management System, an application that enables companies to monitor and analyze the performance of contact centers.