Paxus Financial Systems Ltd has a new life assurance administration system for the IBM AS/400 called Life/400. The company says that the new software completes its IBM mid-range portfolio, and complements its fire and general insurance system Polisy/400. The company, which has its European headquarters in Twyford, Berkshire, is targeting the new software at the soon-to be deregulated European insurance market. Life/400 is multi lingual and provides traditional life assurance contracts, unit linked contracts, plan processing, and multi-currency support. Other facilities include contract administration and accounting, automated documentation, audit and batch control, and security features. Both Life and Polisy use Smart software architecture which facilitates on-line real-time transaction processing. Paxus, an IBM agent, believes that the AS/400 has provided a de facto standard for small business computing. It is easy to install, there is plenty of third party software, and there is a plotted growth path from the B30 model onwards. The company intends to support future releases, including the long-awaited high-end models, and if Hursley Park decides to put CICS on the AS/400, then Paxus will also produce a CICS-Life/400. Support for the potential 1,200 European users will come from the data processing centre at Twyford, which houses an IBM 4381, AS/400 equipment, and an X25 packet switching network for remote diagnostics and communications with the Australian head office. The company is bullishly optimistic that deregulation of the European market won’t lead to mergers and acquisitions therefore fewer potential clients – and predicts that over the next six months alone, it will achieve sales of UKP2m. Both Life and Polisy start on the AS/400 B30 model, and entry-level prices are UKP250,000 and UKP200,000 respectively.
