While the insurance industry has benefited from significant technology innovations in pockets of the insurance process - from the point-of-sale thru reinsurance - it also has often produced a proliferation of disconnected systems. INSTEC, a prominent policy administration software vendor, progressive in its use of technology, announced its support of Microsoft's Insurance Value Chain Architecture Framework (IVCAF) Version 1.0 at the ACORD LOMA 2006 Insurance Systems Forum.

The IVC Architecture Framework promotes integration among best-of-breed software applications through Microsoft .NET Web Services and industry standards. Pre-integrating applications has the potential to reduce millions of dollars of post-purchase integration pain on the part of insurance customers. INSTEC participated with two other IVC vendors, Insuresoft and XDTI, to demonstrate complete automation from an agent's submission through back-office billing and claims. This integration takes advantage of XDTI's agency management, INSTEC's rating and policy printing, and Insuresoft's policy administration. The Microsoft-based technology and architecture of these products allowed for exercising the strengths and uniqueness of each.

Ray Simon, President of INSTEC, comments "We're proud to be participating at the forefront of Microsoft's IVC lab scenarios. This initiative provides the momentum needed within the insurance industry to promote greater rigor in standardizing how software applications communicate to fulfill the insurance value chain. INSTEC has had numerous experiences in participating in integrations with customers and sees strong value in working towards pre-sales integration. Insurance companies will have demonstrably better ROI on their purchases - both hard costs and faster deployments of the software. Vendors can concentrate more of their staff on enhancing their products to ultimately improve their client's insurance experience rather than implementing one-off integrations."

"The IVC integrations labs are where new composite-applications are being built utilizing Web Services," said Kevin S. Kelly, managing director, U.S. insurance industry at Microsoft. "INSTEC's early contributions to the design and development of both the labs and the IVCAF is exemplary and makes the company a pioneer in helping our industry escape a legacy past filled with yesterday's business processes and migrate toward a services-oriented future."

About INSTEC
Founded in 1982, INSTEC provides carriers and MGAs with comprehensive policy administration software designed for the dynamic nature of Commercial Lines. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, INSTEC continues to demonstrate their expertise in Microsoft technologies and their commitment to deliver insurance software solutions that meet the high standards expected from software products developed for Microsoft platforms, including .NET.

For more information on INSTEC products and services, please call 630.955.9200 or visit our website at www.instec-corp.com