INDUSTRY

Valen Technologies, a provider of predictive modeling and decision enabling software for the insurance industry, today announced that they are working with Sun Microsystems to co-market and deliver Grid computing solutions to insurance customers worldwide. Valen and Sun will jointly provide Valen's decision enabling software running on a proven Jini technology-based Grid computing infrastructure. By building decision models rapidly, these customers will have access to up-to-date data, allowing them to retain a competitive edge and stay aligned with shifting market conditions. "Working with Valen, we can offer customers a fully integrated, flexible and scalable Grid computing environment based on industry-standard Java and Jini technologies," said Mark Denne, U.S. Grid solutions manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc. "The combination of Valen's advanced software and Sun's low-cost AMD Opteron processor-based systems running the Solaris or Linux OS, provides a comprehensive solution designed specifically to address the needs of the insurance industry." Valen's models are built using a dynamic Grid computing architecture. Jini technology, invented by Sun Microsystems, helps Valen distribute the computing power needed to build the models across multiple processors and rapidly reduce turnaround time. To build models, Valen developed a set of proprietary algorithms that analyze thousands of data elements to look for complex, multi-dimensional patterns that characterize risk. Currently, insurance carriers use Valen's predictive decision making applications to assess risk for underwriting decisions more accurately. Financial services companies can also use the applications to gauge credit risk more accurately and improve profits. Valen's modeling capability can have a dramatic affect on the way underwriting decisions are made, affecting loss ratios for any line of business, improving the way underwriters make decisions and influencing top line growth. "Our business climate is defined by the drive to achieve more in less time," said Dax Craig, president and CEO of Valen Technologies. "By optimizing our technology with Sun's flexible, open architecture, we can enrich our insurance offering and extend our rapid model building capabilities to more users and new markets." Industry standard Java and Jini technologies enable developers to create adaptive Grid computing systems that are resilient, evolvable and dynamically scalable. These open technologies are embraced within Sun's comprehensive Grid computing offerings that allow customers to simplify IT operations and manage their data centers as a single system. Complementary Sun solutions include N1 Grid virtualization and automation technologies for customers across a range of industries, including financial services, life sciences and high performance and technical computing. Valen's Risk Manager software and Sun's Grid computing systems are now available for purchase from both companies.