Information technology company Paragon Bermuda has formed a strategic alliance with insurance industry technology solutions organisation Blue Frog Solutions to provide The Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD)-based solutions to the reinsurance market.

Paragon said ACORD standards serve as a common communication method for use by multiple parties, thereby increasing the efficiency of the entire industry. The ACORD standards for reinsurance are designed to provide seamless transfer of information between insurers, reinsurance brokers and reinsurers.

The standards are based on development begun in 1992 under the direction of a joint venture comprised of European, UK and USA standards bodies. ACORD assumed responsibility for management of these standards in 2001.

Under the terms of the agreement, Paragon will become a licensed reseller of Blue Frog's ADMServer System to its reinsurance clients. The ADMServer System is a middleware platform for the maintenance, distribution and management of ACORD messages and is typically only licensed to carriers and distributors within the insurance vertical.

"ACORD-based technologies present reinsurers with valuable opportunities to gain efficiencies and reduce costs by using a common language," said Glenn Henderson, director of the Paragon Technology Group, the parent company of Paragon Bermuda. "Blue Frog's ADMServer System simplifies data exchange between reinsurers', their clients and partners."

"Together, Blue Frog and Paragon can ease and promote the adoption of the ACORD standards in the re-insurance market, significantly improving reinsurers' ability to interface and communicate with their business partners," said Brad Levine, CEO of Blue Frog Solutions.

Insurers such as AIG, Manulife and Pacific Life have already deployed Blue Frog's ADMServer System and realised more efficient processing at lower costs. The agreement with Paragon will facilitate Blue Frog's entry into the reinsurance sector and allow the company to demonstrate similar benefits in a new vertical.