ISO said its total acquisition of NetMap follows its purchase last year of a majority position in the firm, which operationally will become part of ISO's claims department.

The software operation will continue to be called NetMap Analytics and will remain in Columbus.

ISO said it will retain sole rights to sell NetMap insurance products, including "ViewLink Manager" and "NetMap for Claims" around the world other than in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

ISO will retain a minority position in NetMap Analytics Pty Ltd. based in Sydney, Australia, under the leadership of its chief executive officer, Richard McLean, the former head of NetMap Analytics. The Australian entity is licensed to sell NetMap insurance products in the Australian, New Zealand and Singapore markets, and non-insurance products worldwide other than in the United States.

"By acquiring sole ownership of NetMap and integrating it into ISO's claims unit, ISO is now able to assure the U.S. property-casualty insurance industry an uninterrupted flow of fraud-detection products and services, and support for those services," said Frank J. Coyne, ISO's president and chief executive officer.

He said ISO is committed to be "an arsenal in the property-casualty industry's war on claims fraud that robs insurers--and ultimately policyholders--of more than $24 billion a year."

ISO said that to detect patterns of fraud, "NetMap for Claims" analyzes insurers' own data as well as data from the ISO ClaimSearch system--ISO's antifraud claims information database of some 256 million records.

NetMap visual link analysis technology also forms the basis of ISO's PC-based "ViewLink Manager" software that improves insurers' effectiveness in using the ISO ClaimSearch system by presenting relationships in a "visually compelling form."