Grid Computing

• Reduce time to results for sophisticated modeling
• Increase flexibility and precision
• Run more complex models faster and enable
• • better insights into risks and reserves
  • shorter product development cycles
  • predictability for meeting regulatory compliance
• Improve resource utilization

Insurance companies today are facing significant cost and regulatory pressures. To meet evolving market needs and maintain a competitive edge they must comply with mounting financial reporting demands ... bring innovative products to market faster... reach new, improved levels of capital management ... reduce portfolio risk and ideally reduce reserves. Increasingly sophisticated models are being used to help with these challenges.

To achieve the benefits of enhanced modeling techniques, including multi-dimensional stochastic modeling, an operational paradigm shift is required. The static compute environment used by most actuarial departments must be transformed into a dynamic infrastructure; one that can provide the data and processing power necessary to run simulations over extended periods, with thousands of scenarios and model points in the tens of thousands. As insurers strive to "model reality", the flexible, dynamic infrastructure can help anticipate and respond to business demands while helping to derive maximum value from IT investments.

Grid computing is a proven technology that can enable a dynamic infrastructure.

IBM® Grid and Grow™ for Actuarial Analysis is a suite of solution elements which address performance and data issues facing actuaries who use industry leading applications for life, pension and annuity analysis.

Companies can mix-and-match solution elements to fit the needs of their environment. Most will begin with the grid element then extend the solution. The grid element is a simple, yet powerful offering designed to help insurance companies immediately realize the computational advantages of grid computing through an open and scalable architecture.

IBM has partnered with industry leading application vendors, including Milliman and its MG.ALFA™ offering, and premiere grid middleware vendors, including DataSynapse and Platform Computing, to create a solution that is quick to deploy and leverages existing application investments.

The grid element features the IBM eServer BladeCenter with a choice of seven HS20 (Intel® Xeon®) or LS20 (AMD Opteron™) processor-based blades, Windows Server operating system and a services package that includes: a technical workshop and site readiness review, hardware installation, software installation and configuration, software tailoring for product integration and workstation configuration for desktop scavenging, testing, documentation, client skills transfer and project management.

To further uncover and implement potential sources of improved efficiency, manageability and fuel new insights into your business are six additional solution elements.

• Data element
• Control element
• Integration element
• Information Management element
• Risk & Compliance element
• Business Transformation element