In Brief

Open package
Northern Marine Underwriters is to use Intech Solutions' Open Company administration package to support its underwriting operations throughout its UK offices. Open Co is a component of the enterprise insurance domain (EID), which gives employees, customers and business partners a single point of access to the insurer's business systems. As well as Open, Intech will be using EID components for document management, business intelligence and business-to-business messaging facilities.

Guaranteed 24-hour web
The web-hosting division of Guardian IT Group, Ixguardian (IXG), has invested £50m in its new internet exchange centre (IXC) to ensure the uninterrupted 24-hour operation of customer websites. The increase in ebusiness traffic has led to more organisations wanting their sites to be protected from costly downtime. But Garry Growns, managing director of IXG, warned that the growth in web-hosting companies would place significant pressure on the UK's electricity network. In London, it is estimated that demand will rise by a fifth. IXC will come on stream in phases from December.

A skillful approach
Insurer Chubb has developed new software called Artisan to try to improve the accuracy of its home evaluation service for its Masterpiece policyholders. Artisan lets Chubb's apprai-sers value each component of a building, using a database produced in conjunction with a firm of surveyors and Chubb's own appraisal experience. Using the technology, Chubb expects to produce more detailed reports for policyholders, inclu-ding facts about the contents and digital images of building details and specified contents. The system uses a stand-alone system and database and generates a risk summary for Chubb's underwriters. Personal lines manager, John Sims said: "Artisan adds an important dimension to our appraisal service, which is already unique within the industry – most other insurers require policyholders to 'guesstimate' their cover requirements."