AIRProfiler Provides Easy Access to Location Specific Natural Catastrophe Hazard Information

January 1, 2011 / 3 min read

Boston, December 11, 2002 — AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR), the technological leader in catastrophe modeling and weather risk management, today announced the latest release of AIRProfiler®. AIRProfiler provides underwriters, risk managers and real estate professionals with a web-based tool to easily assess the natural catastrophe hazards facing individual property locations. AIRProfiler analyzes the risk from hurricane, earthquake, flood and now severe thunderstorm in the United States. With the addition of the severe thunderstorm hazard, AIRProfiler now includes tornadoes, hail and straight-line windstorms. The latest release of AIRProfiler also updates hurricane and earthquake hazards with current scientific data and enhances the user interface with the ability to integrate the application into any Windows®-based underwriting system.

AIRProfiler contains the hazard data embedded in AIR's catastrophe models, offering users location-specific peril information in a cost-effective, easy-to-use application. AIRProfiler allows underwriters and risk managers simply to enter a property address to get information on distance to active faults, storm surge potential, detail on historical tornadoes in the area and other hazard-related information. Also available are risk scores based on three measures of risk: the AAL (average annual loss), the 100-year return period loss level, and the 250-year loss level.

"AIRProfiler is an extremely useful tool for the underwriting decision-making process, giving insurers easy access to important hazard information," said Uday Virkud, senior vice president at AIR Worldwide Corporation. "Since risk can vary within a ZIP code, insurers need the higher-resolution property information provided by AIRProfiler." In real time, AIRProfiler will determine if a property being considered for coverage is at an above-average risk from natural catastrophes. If properties reach a certain threshold of risk, it is common for an insurer to run a more extensive loss analysis before making the final decision on underwriting.

The latest release of AIRProfiler incorporates the following enhancements:

Severe Thunderstorm Profile: AIRProfiler now offers the ability to generate a profile based on severe thunderstorm activity for the area of a selected property. The severe thunderstorm profile gives users the ability to quickly determine the potential risk from natural catastrophes, such as tornadoes, hailstorms and straight-line windstorms. Annual frequencies of these events are calculated by processing historical data obtained from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC).
Accuracy: The hazard information in AIRProfiler has been updated to reflect the most recent releases of the AIR catastrophe models.
Usability: The usability of AIRProfiler has been greatly improved, allowing corporations rapid deployment of the software throughout their organizations, allowing for seamless access to catastrophe hazard information. A new application-programming interface will enable AIRProfiler to be incorporated into any Windows-based underwriting system. Overall design improvements, including an enhanced help menu and new map tools, allow even the most nontechnical users to easily obtain the information necessary for quick risk assessment of the property under investigation.

About AIR Worldwide Corporation
AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR), a wholly owned subsidiary of Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), is a leading catastrophe-and weather-risk-modeling company. Through its web-based and computer software solutions (ClimateCastTM, CLASIC/2TM, CATRADER®, CATMAP®/2, AIRProfiler®), AIR services the insurance, reinsurance and capital markets. AIR's models simulate losses from both man-made and natural catastrophes in more than 35 countries. AIR is headquartered in Boston and has additional offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit the AIR website at www.air-worldwide.com.

About ISO
ISO is a leading source of information, products and services related to property and liability risk. For a broad spectrum of commercial and personal lines of insurance, ISO provides statistical, actuarial, underwriting and claims information and analyses; consulting and technical services; policy language; information about specific locations; fraud-identification tools; and data processing. In the United States and around the world, ISO serves insurers, reinsurers, agents, brokers, self-insureds, risk managers, insurance regulators and other government agencies.

Release: Immediate

Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com

Mike Gannon (AIR)
617-267-6645