AIR Continues to Deliver on Software Road Map: Releases New Version of Catastrophe Modeling Platform Touchstone

June 22, 2015 / 4 min read

BOSTON, June 22, 2015 — Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide released Version 3.0 of its catastrophe modeling software platform, Touchstone^®. Touchstone is a total risk management solution designed to perform advanced analytics to help companies better own their risk. Touchstone is a scalable platform on which companies can build a broad analytics infrastructure. The latest version offers companies additional tools to test, compare, and modify model output to develop their own view of risk. AIR Worldwide is a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) business.

Touchstone 3.0 offers comparative loss analytics that allow companies to evaluate multiple sets of loss results simultaneously, including results between model versions, between different exposure sets, or using different policy terms — comparisons that, in the past, had to be performed outside of the software. Also in this release is access to detailed hazard data for simulated events to give users even more insight into the drivers of loss and to further facilitate model validation as required by regulatory regimes such as Solvency II. Touchstone 3.0 also provides expanded loss modification capabilities to allow companies to develop their own view of risk.

“Today, more than 120 companies are benefiting from the advanced capabilities of Touchstone for catastrophe risk analysis,” said Bill Churney, COO, AIR Worldwide. “With this release, AIR continues to execute on its technology road map by introducing important new functionality. With the new features and significant workflow enhancements, Touchstone version 3.0 offers even more flexibility, a broader range of analytics, and more efficient workflows to our rapidly growing client base. Next-generation catastrophe modeling is a reality; companies are seizing the opportunity now, not waiting, to perform more advanced analytics to better own their risk.”

Touchstone 3.0 supports the ability to integrate non-AIR models, thereby extending the range of exposures that can be modeled in Touchstone and providing alternative views of risk. In this release, risk assessment company ERN’s Mexico earthquake and hydro models are seamlessly integrated into Touchstone.

Other new functionality includes the Reinsurance Submission Pack Wizard, which ensures the fidelity of reinsurance submissions by streamlining the import and export of data needed to model reinsurance submissions in Touchstone. This enhancement helps alleviate the business delays often associated with sending or receiving incompatible files within a reinsurance submission.

Touchstone 3.0 has a new ring accumulation method as part of its Geospatial Analytics Module. The new Dynamic Ring accumulation algorithm identifies maximum exposure concentration rings using a technique that can deliver more accurate accumulations than traditional methods. Traditional methods are often limited to finding rings with the constraint that one of the risks is at the center of the ring. The Dynamic Ring tool removes this constraint and can find the maximum exposure accumulation ring even when a risk is not located at the center. Also, functionality within Underwriting Mode continues to expand to include new analytics and data, such as the ability to assess the marginal impact of policies under consideration and the ability to analyze additional noncatastrophe sources of loss.

“Touchstone 3.0 contains many enhancements that serve to increase transparency and usability in an already robust platform,” concluded Churney. “In addition to offering new features on comparative analytics and the ability to access and analyze stochastic hazard information, AIR continues to provide choice in deployment by giving companies the ability to burst to the cloud within Touchstone 3.0 during times of peak activity, opt for full deployment in the cloud, or host on premises.”

The new and updated models included in the Version 3.0 release of Touchstone and/or Version 17.0 of CATRADER^® represent the culmination of major research and development efforts at AIR. They include updates to the U.S. hurricane model, such as a new hydrodynamic storm surge module; comprehensive updates to the hazard and engineering components of the Canada severe thunderstorm model; new tropical cyclone and winter storm models for Canada; an expanded global pandemic model that includes coronaviruses and filoviruses; an expanded European inland flood model to include Austria, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland; a significant update to the South America earthquake models that include the ability to assess tsunami risk and that adds Ecuador to the model domain; and new flood hazard maps for Brazil. Later this year, AIR plans to release an update to its Japan typhoon model to include storm surge.

About AIR Worldwide
AIR Worldwide (AIR) is the scientific leader and most respected provider of risk modeling software and consulting services. AIR founded the catastrophe modeling industry in 1987 and today models the risk from natural catastrophes and terrorism in more than 90 countries. More than 400 insurance, reinsurance, financial, corporate, and government clients rely on AIR software and services for catastrophe risk management, insurance-linked securities, detailed site-specific wind and seismic engineering analyses, and agricultural risk management. AIR Worldwide, a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) business, is headquartered in Boston with additional offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.air-worldwide.com.

Contacts:

Kevin Long
AIR Worldwide
617.267.6645
klong@air-worldwide.com