The Enterprise Edition is licensed based on written premium, line of business and use, a company representative noted. Pricing starts at $75,000 for a single state carrier. Further details are available at www.decisionresearch.com.

o Garvin-Allen Solutions Ltd. announced that it has expanded its Advanced Insurance System by adding a Web-based quoting product using Microsoft's .NET application framework.

According to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada-based Garvin-Allen, AIS Web quoting has been released for farm and auto lines, with additional business lines to follow this year.

"AIS Web quoting is easy to use and provides agents with quick quoting and application submission capabilities," said Rob Ivimey, president of the company. "Pre-underwritten applications are immediately submitted for issue, resulting in a dramatic improvement in the quote-to-issue turnaround cycle. Additionally, agents can quickly access customer quotes, billing, policy and claim activity online."

The company did not provide pricing information. Details are available at www.garvin-allen.com.

o Highline Data, a company affiliated with National Underwriter, announced the release of "Insurance Analyst PRO--Schedule D Securities," which "offers substantial improvements to insurance company investment activities research," the Cambridge, Mass.-based company said.

The new online product--a comprehensive source of all bond, preferred and common stock holdings for U.S. insurance companies--offers data for life, accident and health, property-casualty, and health insurance companies filing with the NAIC, said Highline.

Insurance Analyst PRO provides NAIC annual statement data from Parts 1 through 6, and optionally, quarterly data from Parts 3 and 4, the company noted. The product includes multiple search tools, a library of standard reports, and exporting tools for both Microsoft Excel and CSV file formats.

Pricing for a single user license in the p-c, life or health databases is "under $10,000," a company representative said. Discounts are available for multiple users and multiple databases.

o Hyland Software Inc. announced the release of "OnBase 5.0," the latest version of the company's enterprise content management software suite.

The new version features new collaboration and e-mail archiving functionality, enhancements to core electronic document management capabilities, and new vertical applications tailored for health care providers and financial services institutions, said Cleveland-based Hyland.

"The new modules and enhancements to our core capabilities are designed to address priority issues facing businesses and government agencies today, including giving knowledge workers practical, easy-to-use tools to control costs and sustain regulatory compliance without undermining their ability to create ongoing value for their customers and constituents," said A.J. Hyland, president and CEO of Hyland.

Pricing information was not provided. Further details are available at www.onbase.com.

o IDP introduced a suite of processing capabilities that enables small p-c insurers to support retail agents and managing general agencies with Web-based policy processing, and which "helps insurers lower internal costs associated with existing agent-response methods," the Wyncote, Pa.-based company said.

The suite, called "AgentXpress," is offered to new and existing clients of IDP's VISION 21 policy management system. Functionality includes online policy inquiry for billing and claims information, as well as quoting, application submission and issuance, said IDP.

According to the company, an agent simply enters a customer's identification data--such as a policy number. The agent can then get the status of a bill or claim, or obtain a quote, "in seconds." AgentXpress will also deliver forms for application submission and issuance to further speed the process.

"Most insurance companies can be up and running on AgentXpress for under $75,000, depending on the complexity of their source system," said Gary Gilbert, president and CEO of IDP.

Further details are available at www.idpnet.com.

o Infogix announced it has released updates to its ControlsInsight and ACR product lines, providing "enhanced functionality to help further ensure information integrity," the Naperville, Ill.-based company said.

ControlsInsight provides a real-time dashboard view of Infogix automated information controls within an organization, helping business executives "make informed decisions, improve operations and drive accountability," the company said. The latest release includes compliance features to help auditors extract reports, simplified controls testing and more sophisticated business rules.

The company declined to provide pricing information. Further details are available at www.infogix.com.

o P&C Insurance Systems Inc. said it has launched a Web-based personal lines point-of-sale system.

According to New York-based PCIS, this is a Web-based rating and quotation system, integrated with PCIS' "CarrierVision" policy management system. The product allows remote underwriting locations to be "managed as easily as if they were in the home office."

The company said this product allows all transactions to be maintained centrally in real time. All users have access to quote and coverage documents, policy information and reports "at their fingertips."

"We feel this is a real advance for carriers that must manage large underwriting territories, or even the smaller carrier that would like to integrate segments of their system with their Web sites," said PCIS.

Typical pricing for the product is between $85,000 and $150,000, depending on lines of business, volume and location, a company spokesperson said.

Further details are available at www.pcisvision.com.

o Q.Know Technologies Inc., a global provider of enterprise software for the financial services industry, announced the launch of Q.Know Version 2.1.

According to New York-based Q.Know, the product offers comprehensive document identification, retrieval, organization and management--"creating a more productive and efficient work environment." The new version enables users to "create individualized views of all electronic information without altering core database systems or networked file structures."

Q.Know said the product eliminates the need for personal storage and hierarchical folder structures. Instead, users get "a straightforward, simplistic view of all information on their desktop--organized by topic." The product "can accommodate every file type with its intelligent tagging/organization mechanism."

The company declined to provide pricing information. Further details are available at www.qknow.com.

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Meanwhile, additional products for p-c carriers were also announced at the recent ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum in Las Vegas. Among them:

o Prima Solutions, with a U.S. base in Chicago, announced a new release of its "Prima IBCS" product (version 4.3)--the latest version of the company's Reference Insurance Model.

Designed for property-casualty, life and reinsurance organizations, the product enables insurance firms to provide business users with a "unified view of customer data across multiple systems, to implement end-to-end business processes, and to promote business agility and service re-use," the company said.

Prima IBCS will run on the legacy mainframe systems still used by many carriers, providing an insurance middleware that is compatible with IBM's Insurance Application Architecture, the firm added.

The company said the product covers product development, underwriting, contract lifecycle management and claims processing. "We are providing key elements to reduce complexity and risks of moving toward SOA," said Xavier Boileau, vice president of strategy for Prima.

Pricing begins at $125,000, the company noted.

o Pegasystems Inc. announced the upcoming availability of its "Insurance Industry Framework," designed to promote insurance best practices, drive competitive advantage and accelerate return on investment.

Designed for large property-casualty and life insurance carriers, as well as large brokers, the new framework takes advantage of the IBM Insurance Application Architecture and ACORD XML standards "to help carriers and brokers realize gains in the efficiency and effectiveness of their new business and claims processes," said Cambridge, Mass.-based Pegasystems.

With data models, workflows and product configuration services, the framework adds insurance best practices to form a foundation for re-use of processes and rules across the insurance enterprise.

Three key functions are offered in the Insurance Industry Framework--acquiring and retaining business, claims management, and product management, the company said.

The cost is $500-to-$3,000 per user license, a company representative said.