ClientSoft and Decision Research Corporation Partner At Electric Insurance Company; Mainframe Leverages Web Services to Integrate with DRC Rating Engine.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MIAMI and HONOLULU--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 18, 2003

ClientSoft, the leader in secure, high-performance legacy integration solutions for Microsoft .NET, Java and Web services environments, and Decision Research Corporation (DRC), a provider of leading-edge technology solutions to insurance companies, today announced a successful partnering at Electric Insurance Company, a Massachusetts direct writer of automobile and homeowner's insurance.

Electric Insurance, a General Electric employee benefit provider for over 35 years, utilizes a COBOL policy rating engine on the mainframe for core GE and non-GE business, but at the same time copies the rating engine into the newer direct Internet group modules. Maintaining two separate copies of the rating systems was redundant and expensive for the provider, so to improve operational efficiency, Electric Insurance wanted to eliminate the need for the COBOL rating engine and multiple copies.

To effectively enable DRC's V1STA RateMaker to serve as a unified automated rating engine for both the GE benefit line (mainframe) and Internet direct-to-consumer business (web rating server), Electric Insurance selected ClientSoft ServiceBuilder. V1STA RateMaker effortlessly compiles rating calculations into services, but to render this information accessible from Electric's CICS system, ServiceBuilder wraps the data as a .NET Web service message and delivers it to the mainframe system.

ServiceBuilder's runtime component, which resides within CICS, then queries this Web service whenever a mainframe user needs to access rating functionality. In effect, the mainframe COBOL application, also housed in CICS, actually consumes a Web service that resides within Microsoft .NET. Thus, by enabling the COBOL system to effortlessly consume service-based functionality, mainframe users access the same DRC functionality that determines rating for the Internet group.

"By providing a single consolidated rating engine, V1STA RateMaker promotes operational efficiency and enables Electric Insurance to provide the best possible service to policyholders," states Angelo Renna, Vice President - Information Technology at Electric Insurance. "Furthermore, by enabling the mainframe to effectively consume Web services functionality, ServiceBuilder is engendering an impressive level of architectural agility as we truly incorporate the mainframe into the service-oriented world of Microsoft .NET."

About ClientSoft

Founded in 1987, ClientSoft is the leader in secure, high-performance legacy integration solutions for Microsoft .NET, Java, and Web services environments. ClientSoft customers include, Allstate, BearingPoint, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, Carrefour, Do it Best Corp., R.J. Reynolds, Federal Express, Lockheed Martin, Motorola, Sara Lee, The State of California, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Trustmark Insurance. More information at www.clientsoft.com or 1-888-716-1007.

About Decision Research Corporation

Decision Research Corporation is an insurance software development company that has provided leading edge technology solutions to insurance companies for more than 30 years. DRC's V1STA DecisionMaker product suite provides a fully integrated solution for carriers both small and large across the nation. For more information about Decision Research, visit www.decisionresearch.com.