Sun Takes Jini To The Insurance Industry

Sun Microsystems Inc. continues to expand industry-specific offerings for its grid-computing technology, announcing Wednesday a partnership with Valen Technologies Inc. that's aimed at the insurance industry.

Valen, a provider of predictive-modeling and decision-enabling software, will co-market with Sun its products running on a Jini technology-based grid-computing infrastructure from Sun. The Jini technology, developed by Sun, helps Valen distribute the computing power needed to build the models across multiple processors, while reducing turnaround time, says Dax Craig, CEO of Valen. The software models are most commonly used by insurance carriers to assess risks for underwriting decisions.

Prior to the grid implementation, Valen could only run between 50 and 100 project models in about 12 weeks, Craig says. Now, Valen is able to run between 50,000 and 100,000 models during the same time period, dramatically increasing accuracy, he says.

Bjorn Andersson, marketing director for grid computing at Sun, says the agreement with Valen is "an indicator of how grid computing is starting to be used more in commercial applications."

Andersson says Sun will announce additional grid projects targeting other industries, particularly within financial markets, in the coming weeks.