Insurity and Microsoft Align to Advance Insurance Software and Services

New multiyear alliance combines industry-technology expertise with .NET platform architecture

LAS VEGAS (ACORD/LOMA Insurance System Forum) - May 22, 2006 - Insurity, a ChoicePoint® (NYSE: CPS) company, and Microsoft today announced a multiyear strategic alliance to more closely align future software development, along with joint marketing and sales activities globally.

The partnership will accelerate the pace of business-process innovation by combining Insurity’s industry-leading Insurance Decisions solutions and services with the latest Microsoft technology, including the Microsoft .NET Framework and Windows Server System. 

Insurers, third party administrators and managing general agencies will benefit from the alliance through the combination of Insurity’s industry-technology expertise powered by a Microsoft platform that increases the strategic value of their existing IT investments, while reducing complexity and cost.  About 100 Insurity customers - including many top-20 carriers - are expected to migrate to Insurity’s Insurance Decisions platform, based on Microsoft .NET architecture, during the next two years. 

"This is about increasing the value of our products and services for our customers," said David Pedersen, Insurity Senior Vice President.  "By deepening the relationship between Insurity and Microsoft, we will be able to lead with solutions that combine the strength of our company’s industry thought leadership and technology innovation with the latest Microsoft technologies."

"We are thrilled with the formation of this new multiyear strategic alliance," said Kevin S. Kelly, Microsoft managing director, U.S. insurance industry.  "Insurity has assets that span the breadth of the value chain, and the company understands the necessity of interoperability.  The combination of its thought leadership, technology innovation and commitment to the insurance industry make it an ideal alliance partner."

Microsoft and Insurity software architects will collaborate on designing, building and testing new versions and functions of Insurity’s Insurance Decision products.  Microsoft will continue to refine its insurance architecture through joint development work with Insurity.

One key area of focus for the partnership will be Insurity’s participation in Microsoft’s Insurance Value Chain (IVC) initiative, which seeks to source third-party applications that are best-of-breed examples of insurance business processes, provide those partners with a framework for integrating their applications based on Web services and industry standards, and pair and pre-integrate these applications.  All this helps reduce millions of dollars of post-purchase integration otherwise experienced by insurance customers.

"The use of .NET has expanded in the insurance industry as insurers realize its value in lowering total cost of ownership and enabling service-oriented architectures," said Matthew Josefowicz, manager of the insurance group at Celent, a leading insurance industry analyst firm.  "This new relationship is more evidence of Microsoft’s commitment to providing real business solutions to insurers and Insurity’s commitment to be a technology leader in the space."

Insurity and Microsoft representatives are exhibiting at the ACORD/LOMA Insurance System Forum in Las Vegas, May 22-24, and at the IASA Educational Conference & Business Show in Boston, June 4-6.

About Insurity

Insurity, a ChoicePoint company, protects insurers from underwriting risks, claims fraud, compliance exposures, escalating expenses and premiums, and unfavorable ratios. Headquartered in Hartford, Conn., Insurity offers Insurance Decisions-the most comprehensive software and services in the property/casualty industry covering rate, quote, issuance, administration, billing, claims, reinsurance, data warehousing, compliance support, regulatory reporting, hosting, and managed services. Customers include more than half of the nation’s top 20 commercial lines carriers as well as regional carriers, specialty lines writers and MGAs. For more information about Insurity, please call (860) 616-7721 or visit www.insurity.com.

About ChoicePoint

ChoicePoint (NYSE: CPS) helps businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations make better decisions through information and technology solutions. Each year, ChoicePoint helps more than seven million people get the jobs they deserve and more than 100 million people get fairly priced home and auto insurance. Small businesses can obtain affordable commercial insurance because of our products. Businesses grow revenue with our marketing services and cut costs through our authentication and anti-fraud tools. Government agencies use our data and technology to fulfill their missions in all parts of the world. Visit www.choicepoint.com for more information.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. 

ChoicePoint is a registered trademark of ChoicePoint Asset Company.

For more information, press only:

Scott Brown
Insurity
860-616-7416
[email protected]

Henry Stimpson
Stimpson Communications for Insurity
508-647-0705
[email protected]

Ted Ladd
Microsoft
(646) 225-4722
[email protected]

Lisa Tryall
SS+K for Microsoft
(425) 201-2045
[email protected]