According to University Park, Ill.-based Applied, the new data center, the company's third such facility, increases by 30 percent the amount of data capacity available for hosting the company's agency and broker management systems.

“We were outgrowing our current locations,” stated Jim Kellner, Applied's chairman and CEO. “Having multiple facilities gives us an opportunity for redundancy and means we have no single point of failure.” He had stated previously that Applied is currently hosting the agency management systems of one-third of its customers in its data centers.

Mr. Kellner also assured agents who install Applied's agency management systems in-house that his company will continue to develop and support such uses. Although some vendors have chosen to deliver services only as an ASP, he noted, Applied will still give its customers this option. “You have my word,” he stated.

At the same time, Tim Sander, Applied's vice president of information technology, noted that, “We're seeing approximately 25 percent year-over-year growth in the online environment.”

Mr. Kellner also pointed to increasing agent acceptance of what he called the “software as a service model,” which allows services to be accessed anytime and anywhere an Internet connection is available.

The new data center supplements Applied's existing facilities in Dallas and Chicago, he added.

Looking to the future, Mr. Kellner said, “Applied Systems will need another data center by 2009, and we are well on our way to seeking it.”